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ADDRESSES 



OF 



PRESIDENT WILSON 



ON 



FIRST TRIP TO EUROPE 



DECEMBER 3, 1918 

TO 

FEBRUARY 24, 1919 




WASHINGTON 
1919 







n, of P. 

MAh 25 ]g]g 



^ CONTENTS. 

'1^ 

'OS 

FRANCE. 

Page, 

Pjrip, December 21, 1918 — University of Paris 5 

Humes. Decoml-.^r 25, 1918— To United States soldiers 6 

C haumont, December 25, 1918— Hotel de Ville 8 

ENGLAND. 

Dover, December 26, 1918 10 

Loudon: 

December 27, 1918— Buckingham Palace , 10 

December 28, 1918 — Committee of council of the Evangelical Free Churches. 12 

To I.«ague of Nations Union, at the American Embassy. 12 

Guild Hall 12 

Mansion House 15 

Manchester, December 30, 1918: 

Luncheon, Midland Hotel 16 

Free Trade Hall 17 

ITALY 
Rome: 

January 3, 1919: 

The Quirinal 21 

The Capitol 22 

The Italian Parliament 23 

January 4, 1919: 

The Academy of the Lencei 25 

To the press representatives 26 

Genoa. January 5. 1919 27 

Milan, January 5, 1919: 

At station 28 

At the Palazzio 29 

To the League of Mothers and Widows 29 

The Municipalite 30 

The La Scala 31 

Turin, January 6, 1919: 

Municipalite 32 

The Philharmonic Club 33 

University of Turin 35 

FRANCE. 
Paris: 

Opening of Peace Conference, January 18, 1919 37 

To the French Senate, January 20, 1919 38 

Peace Conference, January 25, 1919 39 

To delegation of working women of France, January 25, 1919 43 

To the league for the rights of man, January 28, 1919 45 

To delegation from French Society of Nations, February 12, 1919 45 

Peace Conference, February 14. 1919 47 

(3) 



ADDRESSESIOF^PRESIDENT WILSON ON FIRST 
TRIP TO EUROPE. 



FRANCE. 
University of Paris, December 21, 1918. 

Mr. President, Mr. Recteur: 

I feel very keenly the distinguished honor which has been con- 
ferred upon me by the great University of Paris, and it is very 
delightful to me also to have the honor of being inducted into the 
great company of scholars whose life and fame have made the history 
of the Univei'sity of Paris a thing admired among men of cultivation 
in all parts of the world. 

By what you have said, sir, of the theory of education which has 
been followed in France, and which I have tried to promote in the 
United States, I am tempted to venture upon a favorite theme. 
I have always thought, sir, that the chief object of education was to 
awaken the spirit, and that inasmuch as literature whenever it 
touched its great and higher notes was an expression of the spirit of 
mankind, the best induction into education was to feel the pulses of 
humanity which had beaten from age to age through the utterances 
of men who had penetrated to the secrets of the human spirit. And 
I agree with the intimation which has been conveyed to-day that 
the terrible war through which we have just passed has not been 
only a war between nations, but that it has been also a war between 
systems of culture — the one system, the aggressive system, using 
science without conscience, stripping learning of its moral restraints, 
and using every faculty of the human mind to do wrong to the whole 
race; the other system reminiscent of the high traditions of men, 
reminiscent of all those struggles, some of them obscure but others 
clearly revealed to the historian, of men of indomitable spirit every- 
where struggling toward the right and seeking above all things else 
to be free. The triumph of freedom in this war means that spirits 
of that sort now dominate the world. There is a great wind of 
moral force moving through the world, and every man who opposes 
himself to that wind will go down in disgrace. The task of those 
who are gathered here, or will presently be gathered here, to make 
the settlements of this peace is greatly simplified by the fact that 
they are mastere of no one; they are the servants of mankind, and 

(5) 



if we do not heed the mandates of mankind we shall make ourselves 
the most conspicuous and deserved failures in the history of the 
world. 

My conception of the league of nations is just this, that it shall 
operate as the organized moral force of men throughout the world, 
and that whenever or wherever %vrong and aggression are planned or 
contemplated, this searching light of conscience will be turned upon 
them and men everywhere will ask, "What are the purposes that you 
hold in your heart against the fortunes of the world ?'" Just a little 
exposure will settle most questions. If the central powers had dared 
to discuss the purposes of this war for a single fortnight, it never would 
have happened, and if, as should be, they were forced to discuss it 
for a year, war would have been inconceivable. 

So I feel that this war is, as has been said more than once to-day, 
intimately related with the university' spirit. The university spirit 
is intolerant of all the things that put the human mind under restraint. 
It is intolerant of everything that seeks to retard the advancement 
of ideals, the acceptance of the truth, the purification of life; and 
every miiversity man can ally himself with the forces of the present 
time with the feeling that now at last the spirit of truth, the spirit 
to which univei-sities have devoted themselves, has prevailed and is 
triumphant. If there is one point of pride that I venture to enter- 
tam, it is that it has been my privilege in some measure to interpret 
the university spirit in the public life of a great Nation, and I feel 
that in honoring me to-day in this imusual and conspicuous manner 
you have first of all honored the people whom I represent. The 
spirit that I try to express I know to be their spirit, and in proportion 
as I serve them I believe that I advance the cause of freedom. 

I, therefore, wish to thank you, sir, from the bottom of my heart 
for a distmction which has in a singular way crowned my academic 
career. 



To United States Soldiers at Humes, December 25, 1918. 

Gen. Persuing and Fellow Countrymen: 

I wish that I could give to each one of you the message that I 
know you are longing to receive from those at home who love you. 
I can not do that, but I can tell you how everybody at home is proud 
of you; how everybody at home has followed every movement of 
this great Army with confidence and affection; and how the whole 
people of the United States are now waiting to welcome you home 
with an acclaim which probably has never greeted any other army. 
Because this is a war into which our country, like these countries 
we have been so proud to stand by, has put its whole heart, and the 
reason that we are proud of you is that you have put your heart 



into it; you have done your duty, and something more, you have 
done your duty and done it with a spirit which gave it distinction 
and glory. 

And now we are to have the fruits of victory. You knew when 
you came over what you came over for, and you have done what it 
was appointed you to do. I know what you expect of me. Some 
time ago a gentleman from one of the countries with which we are 
associated was discussing with me the moral aspects of this war, and 
I said that if we did not insist upon the high purposes for which 
this war was entered by the United States I could never look those 
gallant fellows across the seas in the face again. You knew what 
we expected of you and you did it. I know what you and the people 
at home expect of me; and I am happy to say, my fellow country- 
men, that I do not find in the hearts of the great leaders with whom 
it is my privilege now to cooperate any difference of principle or of 
fundamental purpose. It happened that it was the privilege of Amer- 
ica to present the chart for peace, and now the process of settlement 
has been rendered comparatively simple by the fact that all the na- 
tions concerned have accepted that chart and that the application 
of those principles laid down there will be their explication. The 
world will now know that the nations that fought this war, as well 
as the soldiers who represented them, are ready to make good — 
make good not merely in the assertion of their own interests, but 
make good in the establishment of peace upon the permanent founda- 
tions of right and of justice. Because this is not a war in which the 
soldiers of the free nations have obeyed masters. You have com- 
manders, but you have no masters. Your very commanders repre- 
sent you in representing the Nation of which you constitute so dis- 
tinguished a part, and this being a people's war, everybody concerned 
in the settlement knows that it must be a people's peace, that noth- 
ing must be done in the settlement of the issues of the war which is 
not as handsome as the great achievements of the armies of the 
United States and the allies. 

It is difficult, very difficult, men, in a formal speech like this to 
show you my real heart. You men probably do not realize with 
what anxious attention and care we have followed every step you 
have advanced, and how proud we are that every step was in advance 
and not in retreat; that every time you set your faces in any direc- 
tion, you kept your faces in that direction. A thriU has gone through 
my heart, as it has gone through the heart of every American, with 
almost every gun that was fired and every stroke that was struck in 
the gaUant fighting that you have done; and there has been only 
one regret in America, and that was the regret that every man there 
felt that he was not here in France, too. It has been a hard thing 



8 

to perform civil tasks in the United States. It has been a hard thing 
to take part in directing what you did without coming over and 
helping you do it. It has taken a lot of moral courage to stay at 
home, but we were proud to back you up in every way that was 
possible to back you up, and now I am happy to find what splendid 
names you have made for yourselves among the civilian population 
of France as well as among your comrades in arms of the French 
Army. It is a fine testimony to you men that these people hke you 
and love you and trust you, and the finest part of it aU is that you 
deserve their trust. 

I feel a comradeship with you to-day which is delightful as I look 
about upon these undisturbed fields and think of the terrible scenes 
through which you have gone and realize now that the quiet peace, 
the tranquillity of settled hope, has descended upon us all; and while 
it is hard so far away from home confidently to bid you a Merry 
Christmas, I can, I think, confidently promise you a Happy New 
Year, and I can from the bottom of my heart say, God bless you. 



Gen. Pershing, at Humes, December 25, 1918. 

Mr. President and Fellow Soldiers: 

We are gathered here to-day to do honor to the Commander in 
Chief of our Ai-mies and Navies. For the fu-st time an American 
President wiU review an American army on foreign soil — the soil of a 
sister Republic, beside whose gaUant troops we have fought to restore 
peace to the world. Speaking for you and yom* comi-ades, I am 
proud to declare to the President that no army has ever more loyally 
or more effectively served its country, and none has ever fought in 
a nobler cause. You, ^Ii-. President, by yom* confidence and by yom- 
support, have made the success of our armies possible, and to you, 
as om- Commander in Chief, may I now present the Nation's vic- 
torious Army ? 

Hotel de Ville, Chaumont, December 25, 1918. 

M. LE General, M. , etc. : 

I feel that I have been peculiaily honored in the generous reception 
you have given me, and it is the more delightful because it so obvi- 
ously comes from the heart; and I can not but believe that it is an 
instinctive response to the feeling that is in my own breast. Because 
I think that even you, after contact with our soldiers, can not realize 
the depth and sincerity of the feeling of the United States for France. 
It is an ancient friendship, but it has been renewed and has taken on 



9 

a new youth. It is a friendship which is not only one of sentiment, 
but one based upon a communion of principle. 

You have spoken very generously and very beautifully of the rela- 
tions which have sprung up between yourselves and our soldiers. 
That is because they came not only to associate themselves with you 
as the champions of liberty, but they came with personal affection 
in their hearts for the people of France, and it must have been that 
which you realized. They did not come as strangers in their thought^. 
They brought with them something that made them feel at home 
the moment they were at Havre or Brest in France. 

So I am very much moved by being thus drawn, as they have been, 
into your midst and into your confidence, and wish to thank jou 
very warmly for them and for the people of the United States. I, 
like them, shall carry away with me the most delightful recollections, 
and my heart will always say, as I now say, ''Vive la France." 



ENGLAND. 

Dover, December 26, 1918. 

Mr. Mayor: 

You have certainly extended to me and to those who are accom- 
panying me a very cordial and gracious hand of welcome. Even the 
sea was kind to us this morning and gave us a very pleasant passage, 
so that it tallied perfectly with our expectations of the pleasure we 
should have in landing in England. 

We have gone through many serious times together, and therefore 
we can regard each other in a new light as comrades and associates, 
because nothing brings men together like a common understanding 
and a common purpose. I think that in spite of all the terrible 
sufferings and sacrifices of this war we shall some day in looking back 
upon them realize that they were worth while, not only because of 
the security they gave the world against unjust aggression, but also 
because of the understanding they established between great nations 
which ought to act with each other in the parmanent maintenance 
of justice and of right. It is, therefore, with emotions of peculiar 
gratification that I find myself here. It affords the opportunity to 
match my mind with the minds of those who with a like intention 
are purposing to do the best that can be done in the great settlements 
of the struggle. 

I thank you very warmly, gentlemen, for your greeting and beg 
to extend to you in the name of my own countrymen the most 
cordial greetings. 

Buckingham Palace, London, December 27, 1918. 

Your Majesty: 

I am deeply complimented by the gracious words which you have 
uttered. The welcome -which you have given me and Mrs. Wilson 
has been so warm, so natm*al, so evidently from the heart that we 
have been more than pleased; we have been touched by it, and I 
believe that I correctly interpret that welcome as embodying not 
only your own generous spirit toward us personally, but also as 
expressing for yourself and the great nation over which you preside 
that same feeling for my people, for the people of the United States. 
For you and I, sir — I temporarily — embody the spirit of two great 
nations; and whatever strength I have, and whatever authority. I 
possess only so long and so far as I express the spirit and purpose of 
the American people. 

(10) 



11 

Any influence that the American people have over the affairs of 
the world is measured by their sympathy with the aspirations of free 
men everywhere. America does love freedom, and I believe that 
she loves freedom unselfishly. But if she does not, she will not and 
can not help the influence to which she justly aspires. I have had 
the privilege, sir, of conferring with the leaders of your own Govern- 
ment and with the spokesmen of the Governments of France and of 
Italy, and I am glad to say that I have the same conceptions that 
they have of the significance and scope of the duty upon which we 
have met. YV^e have used great words, all of us, we have used the 
great words "right" and ''justice," and'now we are to prove whether 
or not we understand those words and how the^/ are to be applied to 
the particular settlements which must conclude this war. And we 
must not only understand them, but we must have the courage to 
act upon our understanding. 

Yet, after I have uttered the word "courage," it comes into my 
mind that it would take more courage to resist the great moral tide 
now running in the world than to yield to it, than to obey it. There 
is a great tide running in the hearts of men. The hearts of men have 
never beaten so singularly in unison before. Men have never before 
been so conscious of their brotherhood. Men have never before real- 
ized how little difference there was between right and justice in one 
latitude and in another, under one sovereignty and under another; 
and it will be our high privilege, I believe, sir, not only to apply the 
moral judgments of the world to the particular settlements which we 
shall attempt, but also to organize the moral force of the world to 
preserv^e those settlements, to steady the forces of mankind and to 
nciake the right and the justice to which great nations like our o^vn 
have devoted themselves the predominant and controlling force of 
the world. 

There is something inspiriting in knowing that this is the errand that 
we have come on. Nothing less than this would have justified me in 
leaving the important tasks which fall upon me upon the other side of 
the sea, nothing but the consciousness that nothing else compares with 
this in dignity and importance. Therefore it is the more delightful to 
find myself in the company of a body of men united in ideal and in 
purpose, to feel that I am privileged to unite my thought with yours 
in carrying forward those standards which we are so proud to hold 
high and to defend. 

May i not, sir, with a feeling of profound sincerity and friendship 
and sympathy propose your own health and the health of the Queen, 
and the prosperity of Great Britain ? 



12 

To Committee of National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches, 
London, December 28, 1918. 

Gentlemen : 

I am very much honored, and might say, touched, by this beautiful 
address that you have just read, and it is very delightful to feel the 
comradeship of spirit which is indicated by a gathering like this. 

You are quite right, sir, in saying that I do recognize the sanctions 
of religion in these times of perplexity with matters so. large to settle 
that no man can feel that his mind can compass them. I think one 
would go crazy if he did not believe in Providence. It would be a 
maze without a clue. Unless there were some supreme guidance we 
would despair of the results of human comisel. So that it is with 
genuine sympathy that I acknowledge the spirit and thank you for 
the generosity of your address. 



To League of Nations Union, American Embassy, London, December 

28, 1918. 

Gentlemen : 

I am very much complimented that you should come in person to 
present this address, and I have been delighted and stimulated to 
find the growing and prevailing mterest in the subject of the league 
of nations, not only a growing interest merely, but a growing purpose 
which I am sure will prevail. And it is very delightful that members 
of the Government which brought this nation into the war because 
of the moral obligations based upon treaty should be among those 
who have brought me this paper, because on the other side of the 
water we have greatly admired the motives and subscribed to the 
principles which actuated the Government of Great Britain. In 
obeying that moral dictate you have shown what we must organize, 
namely, that same force and sense of obligation, and miless we organ- 
ize it the thing that we do now will not stand. I feel that so strongly 
that it is particularly cheering to laiow just how strong and imperative 
the idea has become. 

I thank you very much indeed. It has been a privilege to see you 
personally. 

I was just saying to Lord Grey that we had indirect knowledge of 
each other and that I am glad to identify him. I feel as if I met him 
long ago ; and I had the pleasure of matching minds with Mr. Asquith 
yesterday. 

Guild Hall, London, December 28, 1918. 

Mr. Lord Mayor: 

We have come upon times when ceremonies like this have a new 
significance, and it is that significance which most impresses me as 
I stand here. The address which I have just heard is most gener- 



13 

ously and graciously conceived and the delightful accent of sincerity 
in it seems like a part of that voice of counsel wliich is now every- 
where to be heard. 

I feel that a distinguished honor has been conferred upon me by 
this reception, and I beg to assure you, sir, and your associates of 
my very profound appreciation, but I know that I am only part of 
what I may call a great body of circmnstances. I do not believe that 
it was fancy on my part that I heard in the voice of welcome 
uttered in the streets of this great city and in the streets 
of Paris something more than a personal welcome. It seemed to 
me that I heard the voice of one people speaking to another 
people, and it was a voice in which one could distinguish a sin- 
gular combination of emotions. There was surely there the deep 
gratefuhiess that the fighting was over. There was the pride that 
the fighting had had such a culmination. There was that sort of 
gratitude that the nations engaged had produced such men as the 
soldiers of Great Britain and of the United States and of France 
and of Italy — ^men whose prowess and achievements they had wit- 
nessed with rising admiration as they moved from culmination to 
culmination. But there was something more in it, the conscious- 
ness that tlie business is not yet done, the consciousness that it now 
rests upon others to see that those lives were not lost in vain. 

I have not yet been to the actual battlefields, but I have been 
with many of the men who have fought the battles, and the other 
day I had the pleasure of being present at a session of the French 
Academy when they admitted Marshal Joffre to their membership. 
That sturdy, serene soldier stood and uttered, not the words of triumph, 
but the simple words of affection for his soldiers, and the conviction 
which he summed up, in a sentence which I will not try accurately 
to quote but reproduce in its spirit, was that France must always 
remember that the small and the weak could never live free in the 
world unless the strong and the great always put their power and 
strength in the service of right. That is the. afterthought — the 
thought that something must be done now not only to make the 
just settlements, that of course, but to see that the settlements 
remained and were observed and that honor and justice prevailed 
in the world. And as I have conversed with the soldiers, I have 
been more and more aware that they fought for something that not 
all of them had defined, but which all of them recognized the moment 
you stated it to them. They fought to do away with an old order 
and to establish a new one, and the center and characteristic of the 
old order was that unstable thing which we used to call the "balance 
of power'' — a thing in which the balance was determined by the 
swoi-d which was thrown in the one side or the other; a balance 
which was determined by the unstable equilibrium of competitive 



14 

interests; a balance which was maintained by jealous watchfuhiess 
and an antagonism of interests which, though it was generally latent, 
was always deep-seated. The men who have fought in this war 
have been the men from free nations who were determined that that 
sort of thing should end now and forever. 

It is very interesting to me to observe how from every quarter. 
from every sort of mind, from every concert of counsel, there comes 
the suggestion that there must now be, not a balance of power, not 
one powerful group of nations set off against another, but a single 
overwhelming, powerful group of nations who shall be the trustee 
of the peace of the world. It nas been delightful in my conferences 
with the leaders of your Government to find how our muxds moved 
along exactly the same line, and how our thought was always that 
the key to the peace was the guaranty of the peace, not the items 
of it; that the items would be worthless unless there stood back of 
them a permanent concert of power for their maintenance. * Tliat 
is the most reassuring thing that has ever happened in the world. 
When this war began the thought of a league of nations was indul- 
gently considered as the interesting thought of closeted students. 
It was thought of as one of those things that it was right to char- 
acterize by a name which as a university man I have always resented ; 
it was said to be academic, as if that in itself were a condemnation, 
something that men could think about but never get. Now we find 
the practical leading minds of the world determined to get it. No 
such sudden and potent union of purpose has ever been witnessed 
in the world before. Do you wonder, therefore, gentlemen, that in 
common with those who represent you I am eager to get at the 
business and write the sentences down; and that I am particularly 
happy that the ground is cleared and the foundations laid — ^for we 
have already accepted the same body of principles ? Those prin- 
ciples are clearly and definitely enough stated to make their appli- 
cation a matter which should afford no fundamental difficulty. 
And back of us is that imperative yearning of the world to have 
all disturbing questions quieted, to have all threats against peace 
silenced, to have just men everywhere come together for a common 
object. The peoples of the world want peace and they want it- 
now, not merely by conquest of arms but by agreement of mind. 

It was this mcomparably great object that brought me overseas. 
It has never before been deemed excusable for a President of the 
United States to leave the territory of the United States; but I 
know that I have the support of the judgment of my colleagues in 
the Government of the United States in saying tiiat it was my 
paramount duty to turn away even from the imperative tasks at 
home to lend such counsel and aid as I could to this great, may I 
not say, final enterprise of humanity. 



15 
Mansion House, London, December 28, 1918. 

Mr. Lord Mayor, Your Royal Highness, Your Grace, Ladies 

AND Gentlemen: 

You have again made me feel, sir, the very wonderful and [j;onerous 
welcome of this great city, and you have reminded me of what has 
perhaps become one of the habits of my life. You have t .'^id that 1 
have broken fdl precedents in coming across the ocean to jr. in in the 
counsels of the peace conference, but I think those who l\ave been 
associated with me in Washington wi'l testify that that is nothing 
surprising. I said to members of the preis i^ Washington one 
evening that one of the things that had intciv'^sted me most since I 
lived in Washington was that every time T did anything perfectly 
natural it was said to be unprecedented. It was perfectly natural 
to break this precedent, natural because the demand for intimate 
conference took precedence over every other duty. And, after all, 
breaking of precedents, though thi;; may sound strange doctrine in 
England, is the most sen iblo thing to do. The harness of precedent 
is sometimes a very sad and harassing trammel. In this case the 
breaking of precedent is sensible for a reason that is very prettily 
illustrated in a remark attributed to Charles Lamb. One evening in 
a company of his friends they were discussing a person who was not 
present, and Lamb said, in his hesitating manner, "I h-hate that 
fellow." ^'Why, Charles," one of his friends said, ''I didn't know 
that you knew him." "Oh," he said, "I-I-I d-don't; I c-can't h-hate 
a man I-I-I know." And perhaps that simple and attractive remark 
may furnish a secret for cordial international relationship. When we 
know one another we can not hate one another. 

I have been very much interested before coming here to see what 
sort of person I was expected to be. So far as I can make it out, I 
was expected to be a perfectly bloodless thinking macliine; whereas, 
I am perfectly aware that I have in me all the insurgent elements of 
the human race. I am sometimes by reason of long Scotch tradition 
able to keep those instincts in restraint. The stern covenanter 
tradition that is behind me sends many an echo down the years. 

It is not only diligently to pursue business but also to seek this 
sort of comradeship that I feel it a privilege to have come across the 
seas, and in the welcome that you have accorded Mrs. Wilson and 
me you have made us feel that that companionship was accessible 
to us in the most delightful and enjoyable form. I thank you sin- 
cerely for this welcome, sir, and am very happy to join in a love feast 
which is aU the more enjoyable because there is behind it a back- 
ground of tragical suffering. Om- spirits are released from the dark- 
ness of clouds that at one time seemed to have settled upon the 
world in a way that could not be dispersed; the suffering of your 



16 

own people, the suffering of the people of France, the infinite suffering 
of the people of Belgium. The whisper of grief that has blown all 
through the world is now silent, and the sun of hope seems to spread 
its rays and to change the earth with a new prospect of happiness. 
So our joy is all the more elevated because we know that our spirits 
are lifted out of that valley. 



Luncheon, Midland Hotel, Manchester, December 30, 1918. 

My Lord Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

' You have again made me feel the cordiality of your friendship, 
and I want to tell you how much I appreciate it, not only on my own 
behalf but on behalf of my partner. 

It is very interesting that the Lord Mayor should have referred in 
his address to a vital circumstance in our friendship. He referred 
to the fact that our men and your men had fought side by side in the 
great battles in France, but there was more than that in it. For the 
first time, upon such a scale at any rate, they fought under a common 
commander. That is the. advance which we have made over previous 
times, and what I have been particularly interested in has been the 
generosity of spirit with which that unity of command has been 
assented to. I not only had the pleasure of meeting Marshal Foch, 
who confirmed my admiration of him by the direct and simple man- 
ner in which he dealt with every subject that we talked about, but 
I have also had the pleasure of meeting your own commanders, and 
I understand how they cooperated, because I saw that they were real 
men. It takes a real man to subordinate himself. It takes a real 
soldier to know that unity of command is the secret of success, and 
that unity of command did swing the power of the nations into a 
mighty force. I thijik we all must have felt the new momentum 
which got into all the armies so soon as they became a single army, 
and we felt that we had overcome one of the most serious obstacles 
in the strength of the enemy, that he had unity of command and could 
strike where he would with a common plan and we could not. 

And with that unity of command there rose the unity of spirit. 
The minute we consented to cooperate our hearts were drawn together 
in the cooperation. So, from the military side we have given our- 
selves an example for the years to come; not that in the years to come 
we must submit to a unity of command, but it does seem to me that 
in the years to come we must plan a unity of purpose, and in that 
unity of purpose we shaU find that great recompense, the strengthen- 
ing of our spirits in everything that we do. There is nothing so 
hampering and nothing so demeaning as jealousy. It is a canker. 
It is a canker in the lieart not only, but it is a canker in the counting 



17 

room; it is a canker throughout all the processes of civilization. 
Having now seen that we can fight shoulder to shoulder, we will con- 
tinue to advance shoulder to shoulder, and I think that you will find 
that the people of the United States are the least eager of the parties. 

I remember hearing a story of a warning which one of your Aus- 
tralian soldiers gave to one of ours. Our soldiers were considered 
by the older men a bit rash when they went in. I understand that 
even the Australians said that our men were a "bit rough," and on 
one occasion a friendly Australian said to one of our men, "Man, a 
barrage is not a thing meant to lean up against." They were a little 
bit inclined to lean up against the barrage, and yet I must confide to 
you that I was a bit proud of them for it. They had come over to get 
at the enemy, and they did not know why they should delay. 

And now that there is no common enemy except distrust and 
marring of plans, we can all feel the same eagerness in the new com- 
radeship, and can feel that there is a common enterprise for it. For, 
after all, though we boast of the material sides of our civilization, they 
are merely meant to support the spiritual side. We are not men 
because we have skill of hand, but we are men because we have eleva- 
tion of spirit. It is in the spirit that we live and not in the task of 
the day. If it is not, why is it that you hang the lad's musket or his 
sword up above the mantlepiece and never hang his yardstick up ? 
There is nothing discreditable in the yardstick. It is altogether 
honorable, but he is using it for his own sake. When he takes the 
musket or the sword, he is giving everything he has and getting noth- 
ing. It is honorable, not as an instrument of force, but as a symbol 
of seK-sacrifice. A friend of mine said very truly that when peace 
is conducted in the spirit of war, there will be no war; when business 
is done with the point of view of the soldier, that he is serving his 
country, then business will be as histrionic as war. And I believe 
that from generation to generation conceptions of that sort are 
getting more and more currency and that men are beginning to see, 
not perhaps a golden age, but at any rate an age which is brightening 
from decade to decade and may lead us some time to an elevation 
from which we can see the things for which the heart of mankind has 
longed. 



Free Trade Hall, Manchester, December 30, 1918. 

My Lord Mayor, Ladies, and Gentlemen — perhaps I may be per- 
mitted TO ADD Fellow Citizens: 

You have made me feel in a way that is deeply delightful the 
generous welcome which you have accorded me. Back of it I know 
there lies the same sort of feeling for the great people whom I have 
109508—19 2 



18 

the privilege of representing. There is a feeling of cordial fraternity 
and friendship between these two great nations, and as I have gone 
from place to place and been made everywhere to feel the pulse of 
sympathy that is now beating between us, I have been led to some 
very serious thoughts as to what the basis of it all is. For I think you 
will agree with me that friendship is not a mere sentiment. Pa- 
triotism is not a mere sentiment. It is based upon a principle — 
upon a principle that leads a man to give more than he demands. 
And, similarly, friendship is based not merely upon affection, but 
upon common service. A man is not your friend who is not willing 
to serve you, and you are not his friend unless you are willing to 
serve him, and out of that impulse of common interest and a desire 
of common service rises that noble feeling which we have consecrated 
as friendship. 

So it has seemed to me that the theme that we must have in our 
minds now in this great day of settlement is the theme of common 
interest and the determination of what it is that is our common 
interest. You know that heretofore the world has been governed, 
or at any rate an attempt has been made to govern it, by partnerships 
of interest, and they have broken down. Interest does not bind 
men together. Interest separates men, for the moment there is the 
slightest departure from the nice adjustment of interests jealousies 
begin to spring up. There is only one thing that can bind peoples 
together and that is a common devotion to right. Ever since the 
history of liberty began men have talked about their rights, and it 
has taken several hundred years to make them perceive that the 
principal part of right is duty, and that unless a man performs his 
full duty he is entitled to no right. This fine correlation of the two 
things of duty and of right is the equipoise and balance of society. 
So when we analyze the present situation and the future that we 
now have to mold and control, it seems to me that there is no other 
thought than that that can guide us. 

You know that the United States has always felt from the very 
beginning of her history that she must keep herself separate from any 
kind of connection with European politics, and I want to say very 
frankly to you that she is not now interested in European politics. 
But she is interested in the partnership of right between America 
and Europe. If the future had nothing for us but a new attempt 
to keep the world at a right poise by a balance of power, the United 
States would take no interest, because she will join no combination 
of power which is not the combination of all of us. She is not 
interested merely in the peace of Europe, but in the peace of the 
world. Therefore it seems to me that in the settlement that is just 
ahead of us something more delicate and difficult than was ever 
attempted before is to be accomplished, a genuine concert of mind 



19 

and of purpose. But while it is difficult there is an element present 
that makes it easy. Never before in the history of the world, I 
believe, has there been such a keen international consciousness as 
there is now. Men all over the world know that they have been 
embarrassed by national antagonisms and that the interest of each 
is the interest of all, and that men as men are the objects of govern- 
ment and international arrangements. There is a great voice of 
humanity abroad in the world just now which he who can not hear 
is deaf. There is a great compulsion of the common conscience 
now in existence which if any statesman resist he has gained the 
most unenviable eminence in history. We are not obeying the 
mandates of parties or of politics. We are obeying the mandates 
of humanity. That is the reason why it seems to me that the things 
that are most often in our minds are the least significant. I am not 
hopeful that the individual items of the settlements which we are 
about to attempt will be altogether satisfactory. One has but to 
apply his mind to any one of the questions of boundary and of altered 
sovereignt}" and of racial aspiration to do something more than 
conjecture that there is no man and no body of men who know 
just how it ought to be settled. Yet if we are to make unsatisfac- 
tory settlements, we must see to it that they aie rendered more and 
more satisfactory by the subsequent adjustments which are made 
possible. 

So that we must provide a machinery of readjustment in order 
that we may have a machinery of good will and-of friendship. Friend- 
ship must have a machinery. If I can not correspond with you, if 
I can not learn your mind, if I can not cooperate with you, I can not 
be your friend, and if the world is to remain a body of friends it 
must have the means of friendship, the means of constant friendly 
intercourse, the means of constant watchfulness over the common in- 
terest^not making it necessary to make a great effort upon some 
great occasion and confer with one another, but have an easy and 
constant method of com^crence, so that troubles may be taken when 
they are little and not allowed to grow until they are big. I never 
thought that I had a big difference with a man that I did not find 
when I came into conference with him that, after all, it was rather a 
little difference and that if we were frank with one another, and did 
not too much stand upon that great enemy of mankind w^hich is 
called pride, we could come together. It is the wish to come together 
that is more than half of the process. This is a doctrine which 
ought to be eas)^ of comprehension in a great commercial center like 
this. You can not trade with men who suspect you. You can not 
establish commercial and industrial relations with those who do not 
trust you. Good will is the forerunner of trade, and trade is the 
great amicable instrument of the world on that account. 



20 

I feel — I felt before I came here — at home in Manchester, because 
Manchester has so many of the characteristics of our great American 
cities. I was reminded of the anecdote of a humorous fellow coun- 
tryman who was sitting at lunch in his club one day and a man 
whom he did not like particularly came by and slapped him on the 
shoulder. ''Hello, Olhe, old fellow, how are you?" he said. Ollie 
looked at him coldly and said, "I don't know your face; I don't 
know your name; but your manners are very familiar." I don't 
know your names, but your manners are very familiar. They are 
very delightfully familiar. So that I feel that in the commu- 
nity of interest and of understanding wliich is established in great 
currents of trade, we are enabled to see international processes per- 
haps better than they can be seen by others. I take it that I am 
not far from right in supposing that that is the reason why Man- 
chester has been a center of the great forward-looking sentiments of 
men who had the instinct of large planning, not merely for the city 
itself, but for the Kingdom and the Empire and the world, and with 
that outlook we can be sure that we can go shoulder and shoulder 
together. 

I wish that it were possible for us to do something like some of my 
very stern ancestors did, for among my ancestors are those very 
determined persons who were known as the Covenanters. I wish 
we could, not only for Great Britain and the United States, but for 
France and Italy and the world, enter into a great league and 
covenant, declaring ourselves, first of all, friends of mankind and 
uniting ourselves together for the maintenance and the triumph of 
right. 



ITALY. 
The Quirinal, Rome, January 3, 1919. 

Your Majesty: 

I have been very much touched by the generous terms of the ad- 
dress which you have just read. I feel it would be difficult for me 
to make a worthy reply, and yet if I could speak simply the things 
that are in my heart I am sure they would constitute an adequate 
reply. 

I had occasion at the Parliament this afternoon to speak of the 
strong sympathy that had sprung up between the United States and 
Italy during the terrible years of the war, but perhaps here I could 
speak more intimately and say how smcerely the people of the United 
States have admired your own course and your own constant asso- 
ciation with the armies of Italy, and the gracious and generous and 
serving association of Her Majesty the Queen. 

It has been a matter of pride with us that so many men of Italian 
origin were in our own armies and associated with their brethren of 
Italy itself in the great enterprise of freedom. These are no small 
matters, and they complete that process of welding together of the 
sympathies of nations which has been going on so long between our 
peoples. The Italians in the United States have excited a particular 
degree of admiration. They, I believe, are the only people of a 
given nationality who have been careful to organize themselves to 
see that their compatriots coming to America were from month to 
month and year to year guided to the places of the industries most 
suitable to their previous habits. No other nationality has taken 
such pains as that, and in serving their fellow countrymen they have 
served the United States, because these people have found places 
where they would be most useful and would most immediately earn 
their own living, and they have thereby added to the prosperity of 
the coimtry itself. In every way we have been happy in our asso- 
ciation at home and abroad with the people of this great State. 

I was saying playfully to Mr. Orlando and Baron Sonnino this 
afternoon that in trying to put the peoples of the world mider their 
proper sovereignties we would not be willing to part with the Italians 
in the United States. We would not be willing, unless they desired 
it, that you should resume possession of them, because we too much 
value the contribution that they have made, not only to the industry 
of the United States but to its thought and to many elements of its 
life. This is, therefore, a very welcome occasion upon which to ex- 

(21) 



22 

press a feeling that goes very deep. I was touched the other day to 
have an Itahan, a very plain man, say to me that we had helped to 
feed Italy during the war, and it went to my heart, because we had 
been able to do so little. It was necessary for us to use our tonnage 
so exclusively for the handling of troops and of the supplies that had 
to follow them from the United States that we could not do half as 
much as it was our desire to do, to supply grain to this country, or 
coal, or any of the supplies which it so much needed during the prog- 
ress of the war. And knowing as we did in this indirect way the 
needs of the country, you will not wonder that we were moved by 
its steadfastness. My heart goes out to the little poor families all 
over this great kingdom who stood the brunt and the strain of the 
war and gave their men gladly to make other men free and other 
women and children free. Those are the people, and many like them, 
to whom after all we owe the glory of this great achievement, and I 
want to join with you, for I am sure I am joining with you, in ex- 
pressing my profound sympathy not only, but my very profound 
admiration as well. 

It is my privilege and honor to propoae the health of His Majesty 
the King and of Her Majesty the Queen, and long prosperity to Italy- 



The Capitol, Rome, January 3, 1919. 

You have done me a very great honor. Perhaps you can imagine 
what a feeling it is for a citizen of one of the newest of the great 
nations to be made a citizen of this ancient city. It is a distinction 
which I am sure you are conferring upon m.e as the representative 
of the great people for whom I speak. One who has been a student 
of history can not accept an honor of this sort without having his 
memory run back to the extraordinary series of events which have 
centered in this place. But as I have thought to-day, I have been 
impressed by the contrast between the temporarj^ and the permanent 
things. Many political changes have centered about Rome, from 
the time when from a little city she grew to be the mistress of an 
empire, and change after change has swept away many things, 
altering the very form of her affairs, but the thing that has remained 
permanent has been the spirit of Rome and of the Italian people. 
That spirit seems to have caught with each age the characteristic 
purpose of the age. This imperial people now gladly represents the 
freedom of nations. This people which at one time seemed to con- 
ceive the- purpose of governing the world now takes part in the 
liberal enterprise of offering the world its own government. Can 
there be a finer or more impressive illustration of the indestructible 
human spirit, and of the unconquerable spirit of liberty ? 



23 

I have been reflecting in these recent days about a colossal blunder 
that has just been made — the blunder of force by the Central Em- 
pires. If Germany had waited a single generation, she would have 
had a commercial empire of the world. She was not willing to 
conquer by skill, by enterprise, by commercial success. She must 
needs attempt to conquer by arms, and the world will always 
acclaim the fact that it is impossible to conquer it by arms; that 
the only thing that conquers it is the sort of service which can be 
rendered in trade, in intercourse, in friendship, and that there is 
no conquering power which can suppress the freedom of the human 
spirit. 

I have rejoiced personally in the partnership of the Italian and 
the American people, because it was a new partnership in an old 
enterprise, an enterprise predestined to succeed wherever it is under- 
taken — the enterprise that has always borne that handsome 
name which we call "Liberty." Men have pursued it sometimes 
like a mirage that seemed to elude them, that seemed to run before 
them as they advanced, but never have they flagged in their pur- 
pose to achieve it, and I believe that I am not deceived in supposing 
that in this age of ours they are nearer to it than they ever were 
before. The light that shined upon the summit now seems almost 
to shine at our feet, and if we lose it, it will be only because we have 
lost faith and courage, for we have the power to attain it. 

So it seems to me that there never was a time when a greater 
breath of hope and of confidence had come into the minds and the 
hearts of men like the present. I would not have felt at liberty 
to come away from America if I had not felt that the time had 
arrived when, forgetting local interests and local ties and local pur- 
))oses, men should unite in this great enterprise which will ever tie 
free men together as a body of brethren and a body of free spirits. 

I am honored, sir, to be taken into this ancient comradeship of 
the citizenship of Rome. 

Italian Parliament, Rome, January 3, 1919. 

Your Majesty, Mr. President, Mr. President of the Chamber: 
You are bestowing upon me an unprecedented honor, which I ac- 
cept because I believe that it is extended to me as the representative 
of the great people for whom I speak, and I am going to take this 
opportunity to say how entirely the heart of the American people 
has been with the great people of Italy. We have seemed no doubt 
indifferent at times, to look on from a great distance, but our hearts 
have never been far away. All sorts of ties have long bound the 
people of America to the people of Italy, and when the people of the 
United States, knowing this people, have witnessed its sufferings, its 



24 

sacrifices, its heroic action upon the battle field and its heroic endur- 
ance at home — its steadfast endurance at home touching us more 
nearly to the quick even than its heroic action on the battle field— 
we have been bound by a new tie of profound admiration. Then, 
back of it all and through it all, running like the golden thread that 
wove it together, was our knowledge that the people of Italy had 
gone into this war for the same exalted principles of right and jus- 
tice that moved our own people. And so I welcome this oppor- 
tunity of conveying to you the heartfelt greetings of the people of 
the United States. 

But we can not stand in the shadow of this war without knowing 
that there are things awaiting us which are in some senses more 
difficult than those we have undertaken. While it is easy to speak 
of right and justice, it is sometimes difficult to work them out in 
practice, and there will require a purity of motive and disinterested- 
ness of object which the world has never witnessed before in the 
councils of nations. It is for that reason that it seems to me that 
you will forgive me if I lay some of the elements of the new situa- 
tion before you for a moment. The distinguishing fact of this war is 
that great empires have gone to pieces, and the characteristic of 
those empires was that they held different peoples reluctantly to- 
gether under the coercion of force and the guidance of intrigue. The 
great difficulty among such States as those of the Balkans has been 
that they were always accessible to secret influence; that they were 
always being penetrated by intrigue of one sort and another; and 
that north of them lay disturbed populations which were held to- 
gether, not by sympathy and friendship, but by the coercive force 
of a military power. Now the intrigue is checked and the bands are 
broken, and what are we going to do to provide a new cement to 
hold these people together ? They have not been accustomed to be- 
ing independent. They must now.be independent. I am sure that 
you recognize the principle as I do that it is not our privilege to say 
what sort of government they shall set up, but we are friends of these 
people and it is our duty as their friends to see to it that some kind 
of protection is thrown around them, something supplied which will 
hold them together. There is only one thing that holds nations to- 
gether, if you exclude force, and that is friendship and good wiU. 
The only thing that binds men together is friendship and by the same 
token the only thing that binds nations together is friendship. 

Therefore, our task at Paris is to organize the friendship of the 
world, to see to it that all the moral forces that make for right and 
justice and liberty are united and are given a vital organization to 
which the peoples of the world will readily and gladly respond. 
In other words, our task is no less colossal than this, to set up a new 
international psychology, to have a new atmosphere. I am happy 



25 

to say that in my dealings mth the distinguished gentlemen who 
lead your nation and these who lead France and England, I feel that 
atmosphere gathering, that desire to do justice, that desire to establish 
friendlincs^., th:it desire to make peace rest upon right; and with 
this common jurposo no obstacle need be formidable. The only 
use of an obstacle is to l^e o .cr^ome. All that an obstacle does with 
brave meii is, not to rr!ghtc;\ them, but to challenge them. So 
that it ought to be our pride to o's ercome everything that stands in 
the way. 

We know that there can not be another balance of power. That 
has been tried and found wanting, for the best of all reasons that 
it does not staj' bjlancc.l inside itself, and a weight which does not 
hold together can not constitute a makeweight in the affairs of men. 
Therefore, there must be soinoihing substituted for the balance of 
power, and I am happy to find everywhere in the air of these great 
nations the conception that that thing must be a thoroughly united 
league of nations: What men once considered theoretical and 
idealistic turns out to be practical and necessary. We stand at the 
opening of a new age in which a new statesmanship will, I am con- 
fident, lift mankind to new levels of endeavor and achievement. 



The Academy of the Lencei, Rome, January 4, 1919. 

Your Majesty, Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Academy: 
I have listened, sir, with the profoundest appreciation to the beauti- 
ful address which you have been kind enough to deliver, and I want 
to say how deeply I appreciate the honor you conferred upon me in 
permitting me to become a member of this great Academy, because 
there is a sense in which the continuity of human thought is in the 
care of bodies like this. There is a serenity, a long view on the part 
of science which seems to be of no age, but to carry human thought 
along from generation to generation, freed from the elements of pas- 
sion. Therefore, it is, I dare say, with all men of science a matter of 
profound regret and shame that science should in a nation which had 
made science its boast have been put to such dishonorable uses in the 
recent war. Every just mind must condemn those who so debased 
the studies of men of science as to use them against humanity, and 
therefore, it is part of your task and of ours to reclaim science from 
this disgrace, to show that she is devoted to the advancement and 
interest of humanity and not to its embarrassment and destruction. 
I wish very much, sir, that I could believe that I was in some sense 
a worthy representative of the men of science of the United States. 
I can not claim to be m any proper sense a man of science. My studies 
have been in the field of politics all my life and, while politics may by 



26 

courtesy be called a science, it is a science which is often practiced 
without rule and is very hard to set up standards for, so that one can 
be sure that one is steering the right course. At the same time, while 
perhaps there is no science of government, there ought to be I dare 
say in government itself the spirit of science, that is to say, the spirit 
of disinterestedness, the spirit of seekmg after the truth so far as the 
truth is ready to be applied to human circumstances. Because, after 
all, the problem of politics is to satisfy men in the arrangements of 
their lives, is to realize for them so far as possible the objects which 
they have entertained generation after generation and have seen so 
often postponed. Therefore, I have often thougJit tJiat the university 
and the academy of science have their part in simplifying the prob- 
lems of politics and therefore assisting to advance Juiman life along 
the lines of political structure and political action. 

It is very delightful to draw apart for a little while into this quiet 
place and feel again that familiar touch of thought and of knowledge 
which it has been my privilege to know familiarly through so great 
a part of my life. If I have come out upon a more adventurous and 
disordered stage, I hope that I have not lost the recollection and may 
in some sense be assisted by counsels such as yours. 



The Press Representatives at Rome. 

Let me thank you, gentlemen, very warmly, tor this stirring ad- 
dress, because it goes straight to my heart as well as to my under- 
standing. If I had kno^\Ti that this important delegation was coming 
to see me, I would have tried to say something worthy of the occasion. 
As it is, speaking without preparation, I can only say that my purpose 
is certainly expressed in that paper, and I believe that the purpose of 
those associated at Paris is a common purpose. Justice and right and 
big things, and in these circumstances they are big with difficulty. 
I am not foolish enough to suppose that our decisions wiU be easy to 
arrive at, but the principles upon which they are to be arrived at 
ought to be indisputable, and I have the conviction that if we do not 
rise to the expectation of the world and satisfy the souls of great 
peoples like the people of Italy, we sliall have the most unenviable 
distinction in history. Because what is happening now is that the 
soul of one people is crying to the soul of another, and no people in 
the world with whose sentiments I am acquainted wishes a bargain- 
mg settlement. They all want settlements based upon what is right, 
or as nearly right as human judgment can arrive at, and with this 
atmosphere of the opinion of mankind to work in, it ought to bo 
impossible to go very far astray. So that so long as the thought of 
the people keeps clear, the conclusions of their representatives ought 



27 

to keep clear. We need the guidance of the people; we need the 
<;onstant expression of the purposes and ideals of the people. 

I have been associated with so many of your fellow countrymen in 
America, and I am proud to call so many of them my own fellow- 
countrymen, that I would be ashamed if T did not feel the pulse of 
this great people beating in these affairs. I believe there are almost 
as many Italians in New York City as in almost any city in Italy, and 
I was saying to-day that in redistributing sovereignty we could hardly 
let Italy have these valued lellow-citizens. They are men who have 
done some things that the men of no other nationality have done. 
They have looked after the people coming from Italy to the United 
States in a systematic way, to see that they were guided to the places 
and occupations for which they were best prepared, and they have 
won our admiration by this thoughtfulness for us. It is with a feeling 
of being half at home that I find myself in this capital of Italy. 



Genoa, January 5, 1919. 

AT MONUMENT OF MAZZINI. 

I am very much moved, sir, to be in the presence of this monu- 
ment. On the other side of the water we have studied the life of 
Mazzini with almost as much pride as if we shared in the glory of his 
history, and I am very glad to acknowledge that his spirit has been 
handed down to us of a later generation on both sides of the water. 
It is delightful to me to feel that I am taking some small part in 
accomplishing the realization of the ideals to which his life and thought 
were devoted. It is with a spirit of veneration, sir, and with a spirit 
I hope of emulation, that I stand in the presence of this monument 
and bring my greetings and the greetings of America with our homage 
to the great Mazzini. 

AT THE MUNICIPALITE. 

Mr. Mayor : 

It is with many feelings of a very deep sort, perha])s too deep for 
adequate expression, that I find myself in Genoa. Genoa is a natural 
shrine for Americans. The connections of America with Genoa are 
so many and so significant that there are some senses in which it may 
be said that wc drew our life and beginnings from this city. You 
can realize, therefore, sir, with what emotion I receive the honor 
which you have so generously conferred upon me of the citizenship 
of this great city. In a way it seems natural for an American to be 
a citizen of Genoa, and I shall always count it among the most de- 
lightful associations of my life that you should have conferred this 
honor upon me, and in taking away this beautiful edition of the 
works of Mazzini I hope that I shall derive inspiration from these 
volumes, as I have already derived guidance from the principles 



28 

which Mazzini so eloquently expressed. It is very inspiring-, sir, to feel 
how the human spirit is refreshed again and again from it^ original 
sources. It is delightful to feel how the voice of one people speaks 
to another through the mouth of men who have by son.c gift of Gotl 
been lifted above the common level and seen the light of humanity, 
and therefore these words of your prophet and leader will, I hope, bo 
deeply planted in the hearts of my fellow countryrrcn. Thc:c is 
already planted in those hearts, sir, a very deep and genuine aLction 
for the great Italian people, and the thoughts of my own Nation turti 
constantly as we read our own history to this beautiful and distin- 
guished city. 

May I not thank you, sir, for myself and for Mrs. Wilson and for 
my daughter, for the very gracious welcome you have accorded us 
and again express my pride and pleasure ? 

AT MONUMENT OF COLUMBUS. 

In standing in front of this monument, sir, I fully recognize the 
significance of what you have said. Columbus did do a service to 
mankind in discovering America, and it is America's pleasure and 
America's pride that she has been able to show that it was a service 
to mankind to open that great continent to settlement, the settlement 
of a free people, of a people, because free, desiring to see other peoples 
free and to share their liberty with the people of the world. It is for 
this reason no doubt, besides his fine spirit of adventure, that Colum- 
bus will always be remembered and honored not only here in the land 
of his birth, but throughout the world as the man who led the way 
to those fields of freedom which, planted with a great seed, have now 
sprung up to the fructification of the world. 



Milan, January 5, 1919. 

AT STATION. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : You make my heart very warm indeed 
by a welcome like this, and I know the significance of this sort of 
welcome in Milan, because I know how the heart of Italy and of the 
Italian people beats strong here. It is delightful to feel how your 
thoughts have turned towards us, because our thoughts first turned 
towards you, and they turn toward you from not a new but an 
ancient friendship, because the American people have long felt the 
pulse of Italy beat with their pulse in the desire for freedom. We 
have been students of yoiu- history, sir. We know the vicissitudes 
and struggles th^'ough which you have passed. We know that no 
nation has more steadfastly held to a single course of freedom in its 
desires and its efforts than have the people of Italy, and therefore 
I come to this place, where the life of Italy seems to beat so strong, 



29 

with a peculiar gratification. I feel that I am privileged to come 
into contact with you, and I want you to know how the words that 
I am uttering of sympathy and of friendship are not my own alone, 
but they are the words of the great people whom I represent. I was 
saying a little while ago at the monument to Columbus that he did a 
great thing, greater even than was realized at the time it was done. 
He discovered a new continent not only, but he opened it to children 
of freedom, and those children are now privileged to come back to 
their mother and to assist her in the high enterprise upon which her 
heart had always been set. 

It is therefore with the deepest gratification that I find myself 
here and thank you for your generous welcome. 

AT THE PALAZZIO. 

I can not tell you how much complimented I am by your coming 
in person to give me this greeting. I have never known such a 
greeting as the people of Milan have given me on the streets. It has 
brought tears to my eyes, because I know that it comes from their 
hearts. I can see in their faces the same things that I feel towards 
them, and I Imow that it is an impulse of their friendship towards 
the Nation that I represent as well as a gracious welcome to myseK. 
I want to reecho the hope that we may aU work together for a great 
peace as distinguished from a mean peace. And may I suggest this, 
that is a great deal in my thoughts: The world is not going to consist 
now of great empires. It is going to consist for the most part of 
small nations apparently, and the only thing that can bind small 
nations together is the knowledge that each wants to treat the others 
fairly. That is the only thing. The world has already shown that 
its progress is industrial. You can not trade with people whom you 
do not trust, and who do not trust you. Confidence is the basis of 
everything that we must do, and it is a delightful feeling that those 
ideals are sustained by the people of Italy and by a wonderful body 
of people such as you have in this great city of Milan. It is with a 
sense of added encouragement and strength that I return to Paris to 
take part in the counsels that will determine the items of the peace, 
I thank you with all my heart. 

TO THE LEAGUE OF MOTHERS AND WIDOWS. 

I am very much touched by this evidence of your confidence, and 
I would like to express to you if I could the very deep sympathy I 
have for those who have suffered irreparable losses in Italy. Our 
hearts have been touched. And you have used the right word. 
Our men have come with the spirit of the crusades against that which 
was wrong and in order to see to it, if it is possible, that such terrible 
things never happen again. I am very grateful to you for your 
kindness. 



30 

The Municipalite, Milan, January 5, 1919. 

Mr. Mayor: 

May I not say to you as the representative of this great city that 
it is impossible for me to put into words the impressions I have 
received to-day? The overwhelming welcome, the spontaneous 
welcome, the welcome that so evidently came from the heart, has 
been profoundly moving to me, sir, and I have not failed to see the 
significance of that welcome. You have yourself referred to it. I 
am as keenly aware, I believe, sir, as anybody can be that the social 
structure rests upon the great working classes of the world, and that 
those working classes in the several countries of the world have by 
their consciousness of community of interest, by their consciousness 
of community of spirit, done perhaps more than any other influence 
has to establish a world opinion, an opinion which is not of a nation, 
which is not of a continent, but is the opinion, one might say, of 
mankind. And I am aware, sir, that those of us who are now 
charged with the very gi-eat and serious responsibility of concluding 
the peace must think and act and confer in the presence of this 
opinion; that we are not masters of the fortunes of any nation, but 
that we are the servants of mankind; that it is not our privilege to 
follow special interests, but that it is our manifest duty to study only 
the general interest. 

This is a solemn thing, sir, and here in Milan, where I know so 
much of the pulse of international sympathy beats, I am glad to 
stand up and say that I believe that that pulse beats also in my own 
veins, and that I am not thinking of particular settlements so much 
as I am of the general settlement. I was very much touched to-day, 
sir, to receive at the hands of wounded soldiers a memorial in favor 
of a league of nations, and to be told by them that that was what 
they had fought for; not merely to win this war, but to secure 
sometliing beyond, some guarantee of justice, some equilibrium for 
the world as a whole vv'hich would make, it certain that they would 
never have to fight a war like this again. This is the added obliga- 
tion that is upon us who make peace. We can not merely sign a 
treaty of peace and go home with clear consciences. We must do 
something more. We must add, so far as we can, the securities 
which suffering men ever3rwhere demand; and when I speak of suffer- 
ing men I think also of suffering women. I know that splendid as 
have been the achievements of your armies, and tremendous as 
have been the sacrifices which they have made, and gi-eat the glory 
which they have achieved, the real, hard pressure of the burden came 
upon the women at home, whose men had gone to the front and who 
were willing to have them stay there until the battle was fought out; 
and as I have heard from your Minister of Food the story how for 



31 

days together there would be no bread, and then know that when 
there was no bread the sph-it of the people did not flag, I take off 
ni}' hat to the great people of Italy and tell them that my admiration 
is merged into friendship and affection. It is in this spirit that I 
receive your courtesy, sir, and thank j^ou from the bottom o| my 
heart for this unprecedented reception which I have received at the 
hands of your generous people. 



The La Scala, Milan, January 5, 1919. 

Mr. Chairman: 

Again you have been very gracious, and again you have filled my 
heart with gratitude because of your references to my own country, 
which is so dear to me. I have been very much interested to be told, 
sir, that you are the chairman of a committee of entertainment which 
includes all parties, without distinction. I am glad to interpret that 
to mean that there is no division recognized in the friendship which is 
entertained for America, and I am sure, sir, that I can assure you that 
in America there would be a similar union of aU parties to express 
friendship and sympathy with Italy. Because, after all, parties are 
founded upon differences of program and not often upon differences 
of national sympathy. The thing that makes parties workable and 
tolerable is that all parties love their own coimtry and therefore 
participate in the general sentiments of that country. 

And so it is with us, sir. We have many parties, but we have a 
single sentiment in this war and a single sentiment in the peace; and 
at the heart of that sentiment lies our feeling towards those with 
whom we have been associated in the great struggle. At first the 
struggle seemed the mere natural resistance to aggressive force, but as 
the consciousness of the nations grew it became more and more evi- 
dent to them that they were fighting something that was more than 
the aggression of the Central Empires. It was the spirit of militarism, 
the spirit of autocracy, the spirit of force; and against that spirit 
rose, as always in the past, the spirit of liberty and of justice. Force 
can always be conquered, but the spirit of liberty never can be, and 
the beautiful circumstance about the history of liberty is that its 
champions have always shown the power of self-sacrifice, have always 
been willing to subordinate their personal interests to the common 
good, have not wished to dominate their fellow men, but have wished 
to serve them. This is what gives dignity; this is what gives im- 
perishable victory. And with that victory has come about things 
that are exemplified by a scene like this — the coming together of the 
hearts of nations, the sympathy of great bodies of people who do not 
speak the same vocabulary but do speak the same ideas. I am 



32 

heartened by this dehghtful experience and hope that you will accept, 
not only my thanks for myself and for those who are with me but also 
my thanks on behalf of the American people. 

ON THE BALCONY OF LA SCALA. 

I wish I could take you all to some place where a similar body of my 
fellow countrymen could show you their heart toward you as you have 
shown me your heart toward them, because the heart of America has 
gone out to the heart of Italy. We have been watchful of your 
heroic struggle and of your heroic suffering. And it has been our 
joy in these recent days to be associated with you in the victory 
which has liberated Italy and liberated the world. Viva I'ltalia! 



The Municipalite, Turin, January 6, 1919. 

Mr. Mayor: 

Both on the streets of this interesting city and here you have made 
me feel at home. I feel almost as if it were the greeting of a people 
of whom I was indeed a fellow citizen. I am very much honored that 
this great city, playing so important a role in the life and in the 
industrial endeavor of Italy, should have conferred this high dis- 
tinction upon me, and I take the liberty of interpreting your action, 
sir, not merely as a personal compliment to myself, to whom you 
ascribe virtues and powers which I feel I do not possess, but as a 
tribute to the people whom I represent. 

The people of the United States were reluctant to take part in the 
war, not because they doubted the justice of the cause, but because 
it was the tradition of the American Republic to play no part in the 
politics of other continents, but as the struggle grew from stage to 
stage they were more and more moved by the conviction that it was 
not a European struggle; that it was a struggle for the freedom of the 
world and the liberation of humanity, and with that conviction it was 
impossible that they should withhold their hand. Their hearts had 
been with you from the first, and then when the time of their convic- 
tion came they threw every resource of men and money and enthu- 
siasm into the struggle. It has been a very ha])py circumstance 
that America should be thus associated with Italy. Our ties had 
been many and intimate before the war, and now they constitute a 
pledge of friendship and of permanent association of purpose which 
must delight both people. 

May I not, therefore, again thank you for the honor you have con- 
ferred upon me, and take the privilege of greeting you affectionately 
as my fellow citizens ? 



3S 

ON THE BALCONY OF THE MUNICIPALITE. 

My friends of Turin, I now have the privilege of addressing you as 
my fellow citizens. It is impossible at this distance that my voice 
should reach all of you, but I want you to know that I bring the 
greetings, and affectionate greetings, of the people of the United 
States to the people of Italy and the people of the great city of Turin. 
My sentiment, coming from the heart, is the sentiment of the Amer- 
ican people. Viva, I'ltalia! 

The Philharmonic Club, Turin, January 6, 1919. 

Mr. Mayor, Your Excellency, Fellow Citizens: 

You show your welcome in many delightful ways and in no more 
delightful way than that in which you have sliown it in this room. 
The words which the mayor has uttered have touched me very much 
and I have been most touched and stimulated by the words which 
Senor Postorelli lias so kindly uttered in behalf of the Government 
of this great kingdom. It is very delightful to feel my association 
with that government and with this city. I know how much of the 
vitality of Italian effort comes out of this great center of industry 
and of thought. As I passed through your streets I had this sensa- 
tion, a sensation which I have often had in my own dear country 
at home — a sensation of friendship and close sympathetic contact. 
I could have believed myself m an American city. And I felt more 
than that. I felt, as I have also felt at home, that the real blood 
of the country flowed there in the street, in the veins of those plain 
people who more than some of the rest of us have borne the stress 
and burden of the war. 

Because think of the price at which you and at which we have 
purchased the victory which we have won. Think of the price of 
blood and treasure not only, but tlie price of tears, the price of hunger 
on the part of little children, the hopes delayed, the dismay of the 
prospects, t)iat bore heavy upon the homes of simple people every- 
where. That is the price of liberty. Those of us who plan battles, 
those of us who conceive policies, do not bear the burden of it. 
We direct and others execute. We plan and others suffer, and the 
conquest of spirit is greater than the conquest of arms. These are 
the people that hold tight. These are tlie people that never let go 
and say nothing. They merely live from day to day, determined 
that the glory of Italy or the glory of the United States shall not 
depart from her. I have been thinking as I have passed through 
your streets and sat here that this was the place of the labors of the 
great Cavour, and I have thought how impossible many of the 
things that have happened in Italy since, how impossible the great 
achievements of Italy in the last three years, would have been with- 
109508—10 3 



34 

out the work of Cavour. Ever since I was a boy one of my treasured 
portraits has been a portrait of Cavour; because I had read about 
him, of the way in which his mind took in the nation, the national 
scope of it, of the strong determined patriotic endeavor that never 
allowed obstacles to dismay him, and of the way he always stood 
at the side of the King and planned the great things which the King 
was enabled to accomplish. 

And I have another thought. This is a great industrial center. 
Perhaps you gentlemen think of the members of your Government 
and the members of the other governments who are going to confer 
now at Paris as the real makers of war and of peace. We are not. 
You are the makers of war and of peace. The pulse of the modern 
world beats on the farm and in the mine and in the factory. The 
plans of the modern world are made in the counting house. The men 
who do the business of the world now shape the destinies of the 
world, and peace or war is in large measure in the hands of those who 
conduct the commerce of the world. That is one reason why unless 
we establish friendships, unless we establish sympathies, we clog all 
the processes of modern life. As I have several times said, you can 
not trade with a man who does not trust you, and you wiU not trade 
with a man whom you do not trust. Trust is the very life and 
breadth of business; and suspicion, unjust national rivalry stands in 
the way of trade, stands in the way of industry. A country is owned 
and dominated by the capital that is invested in it. I do not need 
to instruct you gentlemen in that fundamental idea. In proportion 
as foreign capital comes in among you and takes its hold, in that 
proportion does foreign influence come in and take its hold. And 
therefore the processes of capital are in a certain sense the processes 
of conquest. 

I have only this to suggest, therefore. We go to Paris to conclude 
a peace. You stay here to continue it. We start the peace. It is 
your duty to continue it. We can only make the large conclusions. 
You constantly transact the details which constitute the processes 
of the Ufe of nations. 

And so it is very delightful to me to stand in this company and 
feel that we are not foreigners to each other. We think the same 
thoughts. We entertain the same purposes. We have the same 
ideals; and this war has done this inestimable service: It has brought 
nations into close vital contact, so that they. feel the pulses that are 
in each other, so that they know the purposes by which each is ani- 
mated. We know in America a great deal about Italy, because we 
have so many Italian fellow citizens. When Baron Soninno was 
arguing the other day for the extension of the sovereignty of Italy 
over Italian populations, I said, ''I am sorry we can not let you have 
New York, which, I understand, is the greatest Italian city in the 



35 

world," I am told that there are more Italians in New York City 
than in any city in Italy, and I am proud to be President of a Nation 
which contains so large an element of the Italian race, because, as a 
student of literature, I know the genius that has originated in this 
great nation, the genius of thought and of poetry and of philosophy 
and of music, and I am happy to be a part of a Nation which is en- 
riched and made better by the introduction of such elements of genius 
and of inspiration. 

May I not again thank the representative of this great city and the 
representative of the Government for the welcome they have given 
me, and say again, for I can not say it too often, Viva I'ltalia ? 

ON THE BALCONY AT THE PHaHARMONIC CLUB. 

It is very delightful to feel your friendship given so cordially and 
so graciously, and I hope with all my heart that in the peace that is 
now about to be concluded Italy may find her happiness and her 
prosperity. I am sure that I am only speaking the sentiments that 
come from the heart of the American people when I say, Viva I'Ttalia. 



University, Turin, January 6, 1919. 

Mr. Rector, Gentlemen of the Faculties of the University, 
Ladies and Gentlemen: 

It is with a feeling of being in very familiar scenes that I come here 
to-day. So soon as I entered the quadrangle and heard the voices 
of the students it seemed to me as if the gi'eater part of my life had 
come back to me, and I am particularly honored that this distin- 
guished university should have received me among its sons. It will 
always be a matter of pride with me to remember this association 
and the very generous words in which these honors have been con- 
ferred upon me. 

When I think seriously of the significance of a ceremony like this, 
some very interesting reflections come to my mind, because, after all, 
the comradeships of letters, the intercommunications of thought, are 
among the permanent things of the world. There was a time when 
scholars, speaking in the beautiful language in which the last address 
was made, were the only international characters of the world; when 
there was only one international community; the community of 
scholars. As ability to read and write has extended, international 
intercommunication has extended. But one permanent common 
possession has remained, and that is the validity of sound thinking. 
When men have thought along the lines of philosophy, have had 
revealed to them the visions of poetry, have worked out in their 
studies the permanent lines of law, have realized the great impulses 



36 

of humanity, and then begun to ad^'ance human life materially by 
the instrumentalities of science, they have been weaving a human 
web which no power can permanently tear and destroy. And so in 
being taken into the comradeship of this university I feel that I am 
being taken into one of those things which will always bind the nations 
together. After all, when we are seeking peace, we are seeking 
nothing else than this, that men shall think the same thoughts, govern 
their conduct by the same ideals, entertain the same purposes, love 
theii own people, but also love humanity, and above all else, love 
that great and indestructible thing which we call justice and right. 
These things are greater than we are. These are our real masters, 
for they dominate our spirits, and the universities will have forgotten 
their duty when they cease to weave this immortal web. It is one 
of the chief griefs of this great war that the universities of the Central 
Empires used the thoughts of science to destroy mankind. It is the 
duty of the great universities of Italy and of the rest of the world to 
redeem science from this disgrace, to show that the pulse of humanity 
beats in the classroom, that the pulse of humanity also beats in the 
laboratory, and that there are sought out, not the secrets of death 
but the secrets of life. 



FRANCE. 
Opening of the Peace Conference, Paris, January 18, 1919. 

Mr. Chairman: 

It gives me great plefisurp to propose as permanent chairman of 
the conference M. Clemenceau, the president of the council. I 
would do this as a matter of custom. I would do it as a tribute to 
the French Republic. But I wish to do it as something more than 
that. I wish to do it as a tribute to the man. France deserves the 
precedence not only because we are meeting in her capital and 
because she has undergone some of the most tragical sufferings of 
the war, but also because her capital, her ancient and beautiful 
capital, has so often been the center of conferences of this sort upon 
which the fortunes of large parts of the world turned. It is a very 
delightful thought that the history of the world, which has so often 
centered here, will now be crowned by the achievements of this 
conference. Because there is a sense in which this is the supreme 
conference of the history of mankind. IVfore nations are represented 
here than were ever represented in such a conference before. The 
fortunes of all peoples are involved. A great war is ended which 
seemed about to bring a universal cataclvsm. The danger is passed. 
A victory has been won for mankind, and it is delightful that we 
should be able to record these great results in this place. 

But it is the more delightful to honor France because we can 
honor her in the person of so distinguished a servant. We have all 
felt in our participation in the struggles of this war the line stead- 
fastness which characterized the leadership of the French people in 
the hands of M. Clemenceau. We have learned to admire him, and 
those of us who have been associated with him have acquired a 
genuine affection for him. ^Toreover, those of us who have been in 
these recent days in constant consultation with him know how 
warmly his purpose is set toward the goal of achievement to which 
all our faces are turned. He feels as we feel,, as I have no doubt 
everybody in this room feels, that we are trusted to do a great thing, 
to do it in the highest spirit of friendship and accommodation, and 
to do it as promptly as possible, in order that the hearts of men 
may have fear lifted from them and that they may return to those 
pursuits of life which will bring them happiness and contentment 
and prosperity. Knowing his brotherhood of heart in these great 
matters, it affords me a personal pleasure to propose not only that 
the president of the council of ministers, but M. Clemenceau, shall 
be the permanent chairman of this conference. 

(37) 



38 

To the French Senate, Paris, January 20, 1919. 

Mb. President of the Senate, Mr, President of the Republic: 
You have made me feel your welcome in words as generous as they 
are delightful, and 1 feel that you have paid me to-day a very unusual 
and distinguished honor. You have graciously called me your friend. 
May not I in turn call this company a companj^ of my friends ? For 
eveiything that you have so finely said to-day, sir, has been corrobo- 
rated in every circumstance of our visit to this country. Every- 
where we have been welcomed not only, but welcomed in the same 
spirit and with the same thought, until it has seemed as if the spirits 
of the two countries came together in an unusual and beautiful 
accord. 

We know the long breeding of peril through which France has 
gone. France thought us remote in comprehension and sympathy, 
and I dare say theie weie times when we did not comprehend as you 
compiehended the danger in the presence of which the world stood. 
There was no time when we did not know of its existence, but there 
were times when we did not know how near it was. And I fully 
understand, sir, that throughout these trying years, when mankind 
has waited for the catastrophe, the anxiety of France must have 
been the deepest and most constant of all. For she did stand at the 
frontier of freedom. vShe had carved out her own fortunes through 
a long period of eager struggle. She had done great things in build- 
ing up a great new France: and just across the border, separated 
from her only by a few fortifications and a little country whose neu- 
trality it has turned out the enemy did not respect, lay the shadow 
cast by the cloud which enveloped Germany, the cloud of intrigue, 
the cloud of dark purpose, the cloud of sinister design. This shadow 
lay at the very borders of France. And yet it is fine to remember- 
sir, that for France this was not only a peril but a challenge. France 
did not tremble. France waited and got ready, and it is a fine thing 
that though France quietly and in her own way prepared her sons 
for the struggle that was coming, she never took the initiative or 
did a single thing that was aggressive. She had prepared herself for 
defense, not in order, to impose her will upon other peoples. She 
]iad prepared herself that no other people might impose its will upon 
her. 

As I stand with you and as I mix with the delightful people of 
this country I see this in their thoughts: "America always was our 
fiiend. Now she understands. Now she comprehends; and now she 
has come to bring us this message, that understanding she will always 
be ready to help." And, while, as you say, sii , this danger may prove 
to be a continuing danger, while it is tiue that France wiU always 
be nearest this threat, if we can not turn it from a threat into a 



39 

promise, there are many elements that ought to reassure France. 
There is a new world, not ahead of us, but around us. The whole 
world is awake, and it is awake to its community of interest. It 
knows that its dearest interests are involved in its standing together 
for a common j)urpose. It knows that the peril of France, if it con- 
tinues, will be the peril of the world. It knows that not only France 
must organize against this peril, but that the world must organize 
against it. 

So I see in these welcomes not only hospitality, not only kindness, 
not only hope, but purpose, a definite, clearly defined purpose that 
men, understanding one another, must now support one another, 
and that all the sons of freedom are under a common oath to see that 
freedom never suffers this danger again. That to my mind is the 
impressive element of this welcome. I know how much of it, sir, 
and I know how little of it. to appropriate to myself. I know that 
I have the veiy distinguished honor to represent a nation whose 
heart is in this business, and I am proud to speak for the people 
whom I represent. But I know that you honor me in a representa- 
tive capacity, and that my words have validity only in proportion 
as they are the words of the people of the United States. I delight 
in this welcome, therefore, as if 1 had brought the people of the 
United States with me and they could see in your faces what I see — 
the tokens of welcome and affection. 

The sum of the whole matter is that France has earned and has 
won the brotherhood of the world. She has stood at the chief post 
of danger, and the thoughts of mankind and her brothers everywheie, 
her brothers in freedom, turn to her and center upon her. If this be 
true, as I believe it to be, France is fortunate to have suffered. She 
is fortunate to have proved her mettle as one of the champions of 
liberty, and she has tied to herself once and for aU all those who 
love freedom and truly believe in the progress and rights of man. 



Peace Conference; Paris, January 25, 1919. 

Me. Chairman: 

I consider it a distinguished privilege to be permitted to open the 
discussion in this conference on the league of nations. We have 
assembled for two purposes, to make the present settlements which 
have been rendered necessary by this war, and also to secure the 
peace of the world, not only by the present settlements but by the 
arrangements we shall make at this conference for its maintenance. 
The league of nations seems to me to be necessary for both of these 
purposes. There are many complicated questions connected with 
the present settlements which perhaps can not be successfully worked 



40 

out to an ultimate issue by the decisions we shall arrive at here. I 
can easily conceive that many of these settlements will need subse- 
quent reconsideration, that many of the decisions we make shall 
need subsequent alteration in some degree; for, if I may judge by 
my own study of some of these questions, they are not susceptible 
of confident judgments at present. 

It is, therefore, necessary that we should set up some machinery 
by which the work of this conference should be rendered complete. 
We have assembled here for the purpose of doing very much more 
than makmg the present settlements. We are assembled under very 
peculiar conditions of world opinion. I may say without straining 
the point that we are not representatives of Governments, but rep- 
resentatives of peoples. It will not suffice to satisfy governmental 
circles anj-where. It is necessary that we should satisfy the opmion 
of mankind. The burdens of this war have fallen in an unusual 
degree upon the whole population of the countries involved. I do 
not need to draw for you the picture of how the burden has been 
thrown back from the front upon the older men, upon the women, 
upon the children, upon the homes of the civilized world, and how 
the real strain of the war has come where the eye of government 
could not reach, but where the heart of humanity beats. We are 
bidden by these people to make a peace which will make them se- 
cure. We are bidden by these people to see to it that this strain 
does not come upon them again, and I venture to say that it has 
been possible for them to bear this strain because they hoped that 
those who represented them could get together after this war and 
make such another sacrifice unnecessary. 

It is a solemn obligation on our part, therefore, to make permanent 
arrangements that justice shaU be rendered and peace maintained. 
This is the central object of our meeting. Settlements may be tem- 
porary, but the action of the nations in the interest of peace and 
justice must be permanent. We can set up permanent processes. 
We may not be able to set up permanent decisions. Therefore, it 
seems to me that we must take, so far as we can, a picture of the world 
into our minds. Is it not a startling circumstance, for one thing, 
that the great discoveries of science, that the quiet studies of men in 
laboratories, that the thoughtful developments which have taken 
place in quiet lecture rooms, have now been turned to the destruction 
of civilization ? The powers of destruction have not so much multi- 
plied as gamed facility. The enemy whom we have just overcome 
had at his seats of learning some of the principal centers of scientific 
study and discovery, and he used them in order to make destruction 
sudden and complete; and only the watchful, continuous cooperation 
of men can see to it that science as weU as armed men is kept within 
the harness of civilization. 



41 

In a sense the United States is less interested in this suhject than 
the other nations here assembled. With her great territory and her 
extensive sea borders, it is less likely that the United States should 
suffer from the attack of enemies than that many of the other 
nations here should suffer; and the ardor of the United States ^f or it 
is a very deep and genuine ardor — for the society of nations is not an 
ardor springing out of fear or apprehension, but an ardor springing 
out of the ideals which have come to consciousness in this war. In 
coming into this war the United States never for a moment thought 
that she was intervening in the politics of Europe or the politics of 
Asia or the politics of any part of the world. Her thought was that 
all the world had now become conscious that there was a single cause 
which turned upon the issues of this war. Tiiat was the cause of 
justice and of liberty for men of every kind and place. Therefore, 
the United States should feel that its part in this war had been played 
in vain if there ensued upon it merely a body of European settlements. 
It would feel that it could not take part in guaranteeing t-hose Euro- 
pean settlements unless that guaranty mvolved the continuous 
superintendence of the peace of the world by tlie associated nations 
of the world. 

Therefore, it seems to me that we must concert our best judgment 
in order to make this league of nations a vital thing — not merely a 
formal thing, not an occasional thing, not a thing sometimes called 
into life to meet an exigency^, but always functioning in watchful 
attendance upon the interests of the nations — and that its continuity 
should be a vital continuity; that it should have functions that are 
continuing functions and that do not permit an intermission of its 
watchfulness and of its labor; that it should be the eye of the nations 
to keep watch upon the common interest, an eye that does not 
slumber, an eye that is everywhere watchful and attentive. 

And if we do not make it vital, what shall we do? We shall 
disappoint the expectations of the peoples. This is what their 
thought centers upon. I have had the very delightful experience 
of visiting several nations since I came to this side of the water, and 
every time the voice of the body of the people reache me through 
any representative, at the front of its plea stood the hope for the 
league of nations. Gentlemen, the select classes of mankind are no 
longer the governors of mankind. The fortunes of mankind are 
now in the hands of the plain people of the whole world. Satisfy 
them, and you have justified their confidence not only but estab- 
lished peace. Fail to satisfy them, and no arrangement that you 
can make will either set up or steady the peace of the world. 

You can imagine, gentlemen, I dare say, the sentiments and the 
purpose with which representatives of the United States support 
this great project for a league of nations. We regard it as the key- 



42 

stone of the whole program which expressed our purposes and ideals 
in this war and which the associated nations have accepted as the 
basis of the settlement. If we returned to the United States without 
having made every effort in our power to realize this program, we 
should return to meet the merited scorn of our fellow citizens. For 
they are a body that constitutes a great democracy. They expect 
their leaders to speak their thoughts and no private purpose of their 
own. They expect their representatives to be their servants. We 
have no choice but to obey their mandate. But it is with the greatest 
enthusiasm and pleasure that we accept that mandate; and because 
this is the keystone of the whole fabric, we have pledged our every 
purpose to it, as we have to every item of the fabric. We would 
not dare abate a single part of the program which constitutes our 
instruction. We would not dare compromise upon any matter as 
the champion of this thing — this peace of the world, this attitude of 
justice, this principle that we are the masters of no people but are 
here to see that every people in the world shall choose its own mas- 
ters and govern its own destinies, not as we wish but as it wishes. 
We are here to see, in short, that the very foundations of this war 
are swept away. Those foundations were the private choice of small 
coteries of civil rulers and military staffs. Those foundations were 
the aggression of great powers upon the small. Those foundations 
were the holding together of empires of unwilling subjects 'by the 
duress of arms. Those foundations were the power of small bodies 
of men to work their will upon mankind and use them as pawns in a 
game. And nothing less than the emancipation of the world from 
these things will accomplish peace. You can see that the represen- 
tatives of the United States are, therefore, never put to the embar- 
rassment of choosing a way of expediency, because they have laid 
down for them the unalterable lines of principle. And, thank 
God, those lines have been accepted as the lines of settlement by all 
the high-minded men who have had to do with the beginnings of 
this great business. 

I hope, Mr. Chairman, that when it is known, as I feel confident 
it will be known, that we have adopted the principle of the league of 
nations and mean to work out that principle in effective action, we 
shall by that single thing have lifted a great part of the load of 
anxiety from the hearts of men everywhere. We stand in a peculiar 
case. As I go about the streets here I see everywhere the American 
uniform. Those men came into the war after we had uttered our 
purposes. They came as crusaders, not merely to win a war, but to 
win a cause; and I am responsible to them, for it fell to me to formu- 
late the purposes for which I asked them to fight, and I, like them, 
must be a crusader for these things, whatever it costs and whatever 
it may be necessary to do, in honor, to accomplish the object for 



43 

which they fought. I have been glad to find from day to day that 
there is no question of our standing alone in this matter, for there are 
champions of this cause upon every hand. I am merely avowing 
this in order that you may understand why, perhaps, it fell to us, 
who are disengaged from the politics of this great Continent and of 
the Orient, to suggest that this was the keystone of the arch and 
why it occurred to the generous mind of our president to call upon 
me to open this debate. It is not because we alone represent this 
idea, but because it is our privilege to associate ourselves with you 
in representing it. 

I have only tried in what I have said to give you the fountains of 
the enthusiasm which is within us for this thing, for those fountains 
spring, it seems to me, from all the ancient wrongs and sympathies of 
mankind, and the very pulse of the world seems to beat to the surface 
in this enterprise. 

To Delegation of Working Women of France, Paris, January 25, 1919. 

Mr. Thompson and Ladies: 

You have not only done me a great honor, but you have touched 
me very much by this unexpected tribute; and may I add that you 
have frightened me ? Because, realizing the great confidence you 
place in me, I am led to question my own ability to justify that 
confidence. You have not placed your confidence wrongly in my 
hopes and purposes, but perhaps not all of those hopes and purposes 
can be realized in the great matter that you have so much at heart, 
the right of women to take their full share in the political life of the 
nations to which they belong. That is necessarily a domestic ques- 
tion for the several nations. A conference of peace, settling the 
relations of nations with each other, would be regarded as going 
very much outside its province if it undertook to dictate to the several 
States what their internal policy should be. 

At the same time, those considerations apply also to conditions of 
labor, and it does seem to be likely that the conference will take some 
action by way of expressing its sentiments at any rate with regard to 
the international aspects at least of labor, and I should hope that 
some occasion might be offered for the case not only of the women 
■of France but of their sisters all over the world to be presented to 
the consideration of the conference. The conference is turning out 
to be a rather unwieldy body, a very large body, representing a 
great many 'nations, large and small, old and new, and the method 
of organizing its work successfully, I am afraid, will have to be 
worked out stage by stage. Therefore, I have no confident predic- 
tion to make as to the way in which it can take up questions of 
this sort. 



44 

But what I have most at heart to-day is to avail myself of this 
opportunity to express my admiration for the women of France, 
and my admiration for the women of all the nations that have been 
engaged in the war. By the fortunes of this war the chief burden 
has fallen upon the women of France, and they have borne it with 
a spirit and a devotion which has commanded the admiration of the 
world. I do not think that the people of France fully realize, per- 
haps, the intensity of sympathy that other nations have felt for them. 
They think of us in America, for example, as a long way off, and we 
are in space, but we are not in thought. You must remember that 
the United States is made up of the nations of Europe : that Frencli 
sympathies run straight across the seas, not merely by historic 
association but by blood connection; and that these nerves of sym- 
pathy are quick to transmit the impulses of the one nation to the 
other. We have followed your sufferings with a feeling that we were 
witnessing one of the most heroic and, may I add at the same time, 
satisfactory things in the world — satisfactory because it showed the 
strength of the human spirit, the indomitable power of women and 
men alike to sustain any burden if the cause was great enough. In 
an ordinary war there might have been some shrinking, some sinking 
of effort, but this was not an ordinary war. This was a war not only 
to redeem France from an enemy but to redeem the world from nn 
enemy, and France, therefore, and the women of France, strained 
their heart to sustain the world. 

I hope that the strain has not been in A^ain. I know that it has not 
been in vain. This war has been peculiar and unlike otlier wars, in 
that it seemed sometimes as if the chief strain was behind the lines 
and not at the lines. It took so many men to conduct the war that 
the older men and the women at home had to carry the nation. 
Not only so, but the industries of the nation were almost as much 
part of the fighting as what actually took place at the fronts. So 
it is for that reason that I have said to those with whom I am at 
present associated that this must be a people's peace, because this 
was a people's war. The people won this war, not the governments, 
and the people must reap the benefits of the war. At every turn we 
must see to it that it is not an adjustment between governments 
merely, but an arrangement for the peace and security of men and 
women everywhere. The little, obscure sufferings and the daily 
unknown privations, the unspoken sufferings of the heart, are the 
tragical things of his war. They have been borne at home, and the 
center of the home is the woman. My heart goes out to you, therefore, 
ladies, in a very unusual degree, and I welcome this opportunity to 
bring you this message, not from myself merely, but from the great 
people whom I represent. 



45 

To the League for the Rights of Man, Paris, January 28, 1919. 

Gentlemen : 

I particularly appreciate your courtesy in coming in person to 
convey these admirable sentiments to me. The phrase "the rights 
of man" is somehow, associated more intimately with the history of 
France than with the hist<:)ry of any other country, and T think that 
the w'hole world has regarded France as a sort of pioneer in the ideal 
interpretation of that phrase. It was not an accident which drew 
France and the United States into close association. The Marquis 
Lafayette did not come to the United States because he alone enter- 
tained the sentiment of sympathy. He came, and we recognized 
that he came as a rej)resentative — shall 1 say, knight errant? — of 
the sympathy of France: and when this opportunity came, not to 
repay our debt to France, for such debts are not repaid, but to show 
the similar sentiment that moved us and the equal willingness on 
our j)art to help France in her time of need, it was with genuine 
satisfaction that we came to help. It is true, sir, I believe, that our 
coming prevented a catastrophe that might have overwhelmed the 
world. That adds to our delight: that adds to our gratification that 
we could have served France in so exigent an hour. 

Therefore, when you, who have through many difficulties repre- 
sented an ideal principle, bring me these assurances of your friend- 
ship, it causes me an unusual emotion. I am grateful to you. I 
appreciate your homage and feel that it brings a message not only of 
friendl}^ feeling but a message of coriiprehension and sympathy 
which is peculiarly delightful and acceptable. 



To Delegation from French Society of Nations, Paris, February 12, 1919. 

I appreciate very deeply what Mr. M • has said, and I take it 

that his kind suggestion is that some time after my return we should 
arrange a public meeting at which I am quite confident, as 1 think 
he is, we may celebrate the completion of the work, at any rate up 
to a certain very far advanced stage, the consummation of which 
we have been hoping for and working for for a long time. It would 
be a very happy thing if that c(mld be arranged, i can only say for 
myself that I sincerely hope it can be. I should wish to lend any 
assistance possible to so happy a consummation. 

I can not help thinking of how many miracles this war has already 
wrought — miracles of com})rehension as to our interdependence as 
nations and as human beings; miracles as to the removal of the 
obstacles which seemed big and now have grown small, in the way 
of the active and organized cooperation of nations in regard to the 
establishment and maintenance of justice. And the thoughts of 



46 

the people having been drawn together, there has already been 
created a force which is not only very great but very formidable, a 
force which can be rapidly mobilized, a force which is very effective 
when mobilized, namely, the moral force of the world. One advan- 
tage in seeing one another and talking with one another is to find that, 
after all, we all think the same way. We may' try to put the result 
of the thing into -different forms, but we start with the same principles. 

T have often been thought of as a man more interested in principles 
than in practice, whereas, as a matter of fact, I can say that in one 
sense principles have never interested me. Because principles prove 
themselves when stated. They do not need any debate. The 
thing that is difficult and interesting is how to put them into practice. 
Large discourse is not possible on the principles, but large discourse 
is necessary on the matter of reahzing them. So that, after all, 
principles until translated into practice are very thin and abstract 
and, I may add, uninteresting things. It is not interesting to have 
far-away visions, but it is interesting to have near-by visions, of what 
it is possible to accomplish; and in a meeting such as you are pro- 
jecting perhaps we can record the success that we shall then have 
achieved, of putting a great principle into practice and demonstrated 
that it can be put into practice, though only, let us say five years ago, 
it was considered an impracticable dream. 

I will cooperate with great happiness in the plans that you may 
form after my return, and I thank you very warmly for the com- 
pliment of this personal visit. 



THIRD PLENARY SESSION OF PEACE CONFERENCE 

Foreign Office, Quai d'Orsay, Friday, February 14, 1918, 3 P. M. 

M. Clemanoeau introduced President Wilson. 

The President at the Peace Conference, Paris, February 14, 1919. 

Mk. Chairman: 

I have the honor and as I esteem it the very great privilege of 
reporting in the name of the commission constituted by this con- 
ference on the formulation of a plan for the league of nations. I am 
happy to say that it is a unanimous report, a unanimous report fiom 
the representatives of 14 nations— the United wStates, Great Britain, 
France, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Brazil, China, Czecho-Slovak, Greece, 
Poland, Portugal, Roumania, and Serbia. I think it will be service- 
able and interesting if I, with your permission read the document as 
the only report we have to make. 

COVENANT 

preamble 

In order to promote international co-operation and to secure international peace and 
security by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war, by the prescription of 
open, just and honorable relations between nations, by the firm establishment of the 
understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among governments, 
and by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty obligations 
in the dealings of organized peoples with one another, the Powers signatory to this 
Covenant adopt this constitution of the League of Nations. 

Article I. 

The action of the High Contracting Parties under the terms of this Covenant shall 
be effected through the instrumentality of meetings of a Body of Delegates represent- 
ing the High Contracting Parties, of meetings at more frequent intervals of an Execu- 
tive Council, and of a permanent international Secretariat to be established at the 
Seat of the League. 

Article II. 

Meetings of the Body of Delegates shall be held at stated intervals and from time 
to time as occasion may require for the purpose of dealing with matters within the 
sphere of action of the League. Meetings of the Body of Delegates shall be held at 
the Seat of the League or at such other place as may be found convenient and shall 
consist of representatives of the High Contracting Parties. Each of the High Contract- 
ing Parties shall have one vote but may have not more than three represenatives. 

Article III. 

The Executive Council shall consist of representatives of the United States of 
America, the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan, together with representatives 
of fovir other States, members of the League. The selection of these four States shall 

.(47) 



48 

be made by the Body of Delegates on such principles and in such manner as they 
think fit. Pending the appointment of these representatives of the other States, 
representatives of shall be members of the Executive Council. 

Meetings of the Council shall be held from time to time as occasion may require and 
at least once a year at whatever place may be decided on, or failing any such decision, 
at the Seat of the League, and any matter within the sphere of action of the League or 
affecting the peace of the world may be dealt with at such meetings. 

Invitations shall be sent to any Power to attend a meeting of the Council at which 
matters directly affecting its interests are to be discussed and no decision taken at 
any meeting will be binding on such Power unless so invited. 

Article IV. 

All matters of procedure at meetings of the Body of Delegates or the Executive 
Council including the appointment of Committees to investigate particular matters 
shall be regulated by the Body of Delegates or the Executive Council and may be 
decided by a majority of the States represented at the meeting. 

The first meeting of the Body of Delegates and of the Executive Council shall be 
summoned by the President of the United States of America. 

Article V. 

The permanent Secretariat of the League shall be established at 
which shall constitute the Seat of the League. The Secretariat shall comprise such 
secretaries and staff as may be required, under the general direction and control of a 
Secretary-General of the League, who shall be chosen by the Executive Council; the 
Secretariat shall be appointed by the Secretary-General subject to confirmation by 
the Executive Council. 

The Secretary-General shall act in that capacity at all meetings of the Body of 
Delegates or of the Executive Council. 

The expenses of the Secretariat shall be borne by the States members of the League 
in accordance with the apportionment of the expenses of the International Bureau 
of the Universal Postal Union. 

Article VI. 

Representatives of the High Contracting Parties and officials of the League 
when engaged on the business of the League shall enjoy diplomatic privileges and 
immunities, and the buildings occupied by the League or its officials or by representa- 
tives attending its meetings shall enjoy the benefits of extraterritoriality. 

Article VII. 

Admission to the League of States not signatories to the Covenant and not named 
in the Protocol hereto as States to be invited to adhere to the Covenant requires the 
assent of not less than two-thirds of the States represented in the Body of Delegates, 
and shall be limited to fully self-governing countries including Dominions and 
Colonies. 

No State shall be admitted to the League unless it is able to give effective guarantees 
of its sincere intention to observe its international obligations, and unless it shall 
conform to such principles as may be prescribed by the League in regard to its naval 
and military forces and armaments. 

Articl"e VIII. 

The High Contracting Parties recognize the principle that the maintenance of peace 
will require the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with 
national safety and the enforcement by common action of international obligations, 
having special regard to the geographical situation and circumstances of each State; 



49 

and the Executive Council shall formulate plans for effecting such reduction. The 
Executive Council shall also determine for the consideration and action of the several 
governments what military equipment and armament is fair and reasonable in pro- 
portion to the scale of forces laid down in the programme of disarmament; and these 
nmits, when adopted, shall not be exceeded without the permission of the Executive 
Council. 

The High Contracting Parties agree that the manufacture by private enterprise of 
munitions and implements of war lends iteelf to grave objections, and direct the 
Executive Council to advise how the evil effects attendant upon such manufacture 
can be prevented, due regard being had to the necessities of those countries which 
are not able to manufacture for themselves the munitions and implements of war 
necessary for their safety. 

The High Contracting Parties undertake in no. way to conceal from each other the 
condition of such of their industries as are capable of being adapted to war-like pur- 
poses or the scale of their armaments, and agree that there shall be full and frank 
interchange of information as to their military and naval programmes. 

Article IX. 

A permanent Commission shall b( constituted to advise the League on the execu- 
tion of the provisions of Article VIII and on military and naval questions generally. 

Article X. 

The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and preserve as against external 
aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all States 
members of the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or 
danger of such aggression the Executive Council shall advise upon the means by 
which this obligation shall be fulfilled. 

Article XI. 

Any war or threat of war, whether immediately affecting any of the High Contract- 
ing Parties or not, is hereby declared a matter of concern to the League, and the High 
Contracting Parties reserve the right to take any action that may be deemed wise and 
effectual to safeguard the peace of nations. 

It is hereby also declared and agreed to be the friendly right of each of the High Cor- 
tracting Parties to draw the attention of the Body of Delegates or of the Executive 
Council to any circumstances affecting international intercourse which threaten t o 
disturb international peace or the good understanding between nations upon which 
peace depends. 

Article XII. 

The High Contracting Parties agree that should disputes arise between them which 
cannot be adjusted by the ordinary processes of diplomacy, they will in no case resort 
to war without previously submitting the questions and matters involved either to 
arbitration or to inquiry by the Executive Council and until three months after the 
award by the arbitrators or a recommendation by the Executive Council; and that 
they will not even then resort to war as against a member of the League which com- 
plies with the award of the arbitrators or the recommendations of the Executive 
Council. 

In any case under this Article, the award of the arbitrators shall be made within a 
reasonable time, and the recommendation of the Executive Council shall be made 
within six months after the submission of the dispute. 
109508—19 4 



50 

Article XIII. 

The High Contracting Parties agree that whenever any dispute or difficulty shal 
arise between them which they recognize to be suitable for submission to arbitration 
and which cannot be satisfactorily settled by diplomacy, they will submit the whole 
subject matter to arbitration. For this purpose the Court of arbitration to which the 
case is referred shall be the court agreed on by the parties or stipulated in any Conven- 
tion existing between them. The High Contracting Parties agree that they will carry 
out in full good faith any award that may be rendered. In the event of any failure 
to carry out the award, the Executive Council shall propose what steps can best be 
taken to give effect thereto. 

Article XIV. 

The Executive Council shall formulate plans for the establishment of a Permanent 
Court of International Justice and this Court shall, when established, be competent 
to hear and determine any matter which the parties recognize as suitable for submission 
to it for arbitration under the foregoing Article. 

Article XV. 

If there should arise between States members of the League any dispute likely to 
lead to a rupture, which is not submitted to arbitration as above, the High Contracting 
Parties agree that they will refer the matter to the Executive Council; either party to 
the dispute may give notice of the existence of the dispute to the Secretary-General, 
who will make all necessary arrangements for a full investigation and consideration 
thereof. For this purpose the parties agree to communicate to the Secretary-General, 
as promptly as possible, statements of their case with all the relevant facts and papers, 
and the Executive Council may forthwth direct the publication thereof. 

Where the efforts of the Council lead to the settlement of the dispute, a statement 
shall be published indicating the nature of the dispute and the terms of settlement, 
together with such explanations as may be appropriate. If the dispute has not been 
settled, a report by the Council shall be published, setting forth with all necessary 
facts and explanations the recommendation which the Council think just and proper 
for the settlement of the dispute. If the report is unanimously agreed to by the 
members of the Council other than the parties to the dispute, the High Contracting 
Parties agree that they will not go to war with any party which complies with the 
recommendation and that, if any party shall refuse so to comply, the Council shall 
propose the measures necessary to give effect to the recommendation. If no such 
unanimous report can be made, it shall be the duty of the majority and the privilege 
of the minority to issue statements indicating what they believe to be the facts and 
containing the recommendations which they consider to be just and proper. 

I pause to point out that a misconception might arise in connec- 
tion with one of the sentences I have just read— ''If any party shall 
refuse so to comply, the council shall piopose the measures neces- 
sary to give effect to the recommendation." A case in point, a purely 
hypothetical case, is this: Suppose that there is in the possession of 
a particular power a piece of territory or some other substantial 
thing in dispute to which it is claimed that it is not entitled. Sup- 
pose that the matter is submitted to the executive council for a recom- 
mendation as to the settlernent of the dispute, diplomacy having 
failed; and suppose that the decision is in favor of the party which 
claims the subject matter of dispute as against the party w^hich has 
the subject matter in dispute. Then, if the party in possession of 
the subject matter in dispute merely sits still and does nothing, it 



51 

has accepted the decision of the council, in the sense that it makes 
no resistance; but something must be done t(; see that it surrenders 
the subject matter in dispute. In such a case, the only case con- 
templated, it is provided that the executive council may then con- 
sider what steps may be necessary to oblige the party against whom 
judgment has gone to comply with the decisions of the council. 

The Executive Council may in any case under this Article refer the dispute to the 
Body of Delegates. The dispute shall be so referred at the request of either party to 
the dispute, provided that such request must be made within fourteen days after the 
submission of the dispute. In any case referred to the Body of Delegates all the pro- 
visions of this Article and of Article XII relating to the action and powers of the Exec- 
utive Council shall apply to the action and powers of th«; Body of Delegates. 

Article XVI. 

Should any of the High Contracting Parties break or disregard its covenants under 
Article XII, it shall thereby ipso facto be deemed to have committed an act of war 
against all the other members of the League, which hereby undertake immediately 
to subject it to the severance of all Trade or financial relations, the prohibition of all 
intercourse between their nationals and the nationals of the covenant-breaking State, 
and the prevention of all financial, commercial, or personal intercoui-se between the 
nationals of the covenant-breaking State and the nationals of any other State, whether 
a member of the League or not. 

It shall be the duty of the Executive v'ouncil in such case to recommend what 
effective military or naval force the members of the League shall severally contribute 
to the armed forces to be used to protect the covenants of the League. 

The High Contracting Parties agree, further, that they will mutually support one 
another iu the financial and economic measures which are taken under this Article, 
in order to minimize the loss and inconvenience resulting from the above measures, 
and that they will mutually support one another in resisting any special measures 
aimed at one of their number by the covenant-breaking State, and that they will 
afford passage through their territory to the forces of any of the High Contracting 
Parties who are co-operating to protect the covenants of the I^eague. 

Article XVII. 

In the event of disputes between one State member of the League and another 
State which is not a member of the League, or between States not members of the 
League, the High Contracting Parties agree that the State or States not members of 
the League shall be invited to accept the obligations of membership in the League 
for the purposes of such dispute, upon such conditions as the Executive Council may 
deem just, and upon acceptance of any such invitation, the above provisions shall 
be applied with such modifications as may be deemed necessary by the League. 

Upon such invitation being given the Executive Council shall immediately institute, 
an inquiry into the circumstances and merits of the dispute and recommend such 
action as may seem best and most effectual in the circumstances. 

In the event of a Power so invited refusing to accept the obligations of membership 
in the League for the purposes of such dispute, and taking any action against a State 
member of the League which in the case of a State member of the League would con- 
stitute a breach of Article XII, the provisions of Article XVI shall be applicable as 
against the State taking such action. 

If both parties to the dispute when so invited refuse to accept the obligations of 
membership in the League for the purposes of such dispute, the Executive Council 
may take such action and make such recommendations as will prevent hostilities and 
will result in the settlement of the dispute. 



52 

Article XVIII. 

The High Contracting Parties agree that the League shall be entrusted with the 
general supervision of the trade in arms and ammunition with the countries in which 
the control of this traffic is necessary in the common interest. 

Let me say before reading article 19, that before being embodied 
in this document it was the subject matter of a very careful discussion 
by representatives of the five greater parties, and that their unanimous 
conclusion in the matter is embodied in this article. 

Article XIX. 

To thos? colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late war have ceased 
to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and which 
are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous 
conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well- 
being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilization and that 
securities for the performance of this trust should l)e (embodied in the constitution 
of the League. 

The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the tutelage of 
such peoples should be entrusted to advanced nations who by reason of their resources, 
their experience or their geographical position, can best undertake this responsi- 
bility, and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as mandataries on behalf 
of the League. 

The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of the development 
of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, its economic conditions and 
other similar circumstances. 

Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire have reached a 
stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provision- 
ally recognized subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a 
mandatory power until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these 
communitits must be a principal consideration in the selection of the mandatory 
power. 

Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage that the manda- 
tary must lie responsible for the administration of the territory subject to conditions 
which will guarantee freedom of conscience or religion, subject only to the maintenance 
of public order and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms 
traffic and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishment of fortifications 
or military and naval bases and of military training of the natives for other than 
police purposes and the defense of territory, and will also secure equal opportunities 
for the trade and commerce of other members of the League. 

There ar:^ territories, such as South-west Africa and certain of the South Pacific 
Islands, which, owing to the sparseness of their population, or their small size, or their 
rnnotenss from the centers of civilization, or their geographical contiguity to the man- 
datory state, and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of 
the mandatory state as integral portions thereof, subject to the safeguards above- 
mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population. 

In every case of mandate, the mandatory state shall render to the League an annual 
report in reference to the territory committed to its charge. 

The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised by the mandatory 
State shall if not previously agreed upon by the High Contracting Parties in each 
case be explicitly defined by the Executive Council in a special Act or Charter. 

The High Contracting Parties fiuther agree to establish at the seat of the League a 
Mandatory Commission to receive and examine the annual reports of the Mandatory 
Powers, and to assist the League in ensuring the observance of the terms of all Mandates. 



53 

Article XX. 

The High Contracting Parties will endeavor to secure and maintain fair and 
humane conditions of labor for men, women and children both in their own countries 
and in all countries to which their commercial and industrial relations extend; and 
to that end a'];;oe to establish as part of the organization of the League a permanent 
Bureau of Labor. 

Article XXI. 

The High Contracting Parties agree that provision shall be made through the 
instrumentality of the League to secure and maintain freedom of transit and equitable 
treatment for the co-nraerce of all States members of the League, having in mind, 
among other things, special arrangements with regard to the necessities of the regions 
devastated during the war of 1914-1918. 

Article XXII. 

The High Contracting Parties agree to place under the control of the League all 
international bureaux already established by general treaties if the parties to such 
treaties consent. Furthermore, they agree that all such international bureaux to 
be constituted in future shall be placed under the control of the League. 

Article XXIII. 

The High Contracting Parties agree that every treaty or international engagement 
entered into hereafter by any State member of the League, shall be forthwith registered 
with the Secretary-General and as soon as possible pul)lished by him, and that no 
such treaty or international engagement shall be binding until so registered. 

Article XXIV. 

It shall be the right of the Body of Delegates from time to time to advise the recon- 
sideration by States members of the League, of treaties which have become inappli- 
cable, and of international conditions, of which the continuance may endanger the 

peace of the world . 

Article XXV. 

The High Contracting Parties severally agree that the present Covenant is accepted 
aa abrogating all obligations mtcr se which are inconsistent with the terms thereof, 
and solemnly engage that they will not hereafter enter into any engagements incon- 
sistent with the terms thereof. 

In case of the Powers signatory hereto or subsequently admitted to the League shall, 
before becoming a party to this Covenant, have undertaken any obligations which 
are inconsistent with the terms of this Covenant, it shall be the duty of such Power 
to take immediate steps to procure its release from such obligations. 

Article XXVI, 

Amendments to this Covenant will take effect when ratified by the States whose 
representatives compose the Executive Council and by tlu-ee-fourths of the States 
whose representatives compose the Body of Delegates. 

It gives me pleasure to add to this formal reading of the result of 
our labors that the character of the discussion which occurred at the 
sittings of the commission was not only of the most constructive but 
of the most encouraging sort. It was obvious throughout our dis- 
cussions that, although there were subjects upon which" there were 
individual differences of judgment, with regard to the method by 



54 

which our objects should be obtained, there was practically at no 
point any serious difference of opinion or motive as to the objects 
Avliich we were seeking. Indeed, while these debates were not made 
the opportunity for the expression of enthusiasms and sentiments, 
I think the other members of the commission will agree with me 
that there was an undertone of high resolve and of enthusiasm 
for the thing we were trymg to do, which was heartening throughout 
every meeting; because we felt that in a way this conference had 
entrusted to us the expression of one of its highest and most important 
purposes, to see to it that the concord of the world in the future with 
regard to the objects of justice should not be subject to doubt or 
im certainty ; that the cooperation of the great body of nations should 
be assured from the first in the maintenance of peace upon the terms 
of honor and of the strict regard for international obligation. The 
compulsion of that task was constantly upon us, and at no pohit was 
there shown the slightest desire to do anything but suggest the l^est 
means to accomplish that great object. There is very great signifi- 
cance, therefore, in the fact that the result was reached unanimously. 
Fourteen nations were represented, among them all of those powers 
Avhich for convenience we have called the great powers, and among 
the rest a representation of the greatest variety of circumstance and 
interest. So that I think we are justified in saying that it was a 
representative group of the members of this great conference. The 
significance of the result, therefore, has that deepest of all meanings, 
the union of wills in a common purpose, a union of wills which can not 
be resisted, and which I dare say no nation will run the risk of 
attempting to resist. 

Now, as to the character of the document. While it has consumed 
some time to read this document, I think you will see at once that it 
is, after all, very simple, and in nothing so simple as in the structure 
which it suggests for the league of nations — a body of delegates, an 
executive council, and a permanent secretariat. Wlien it came to 
the question of determining the character of the representation in 
the body of delegates, we were all aware of a feeling which is current 
throughout the world. Inasmuch as I am stating it in the presence 
of official representatives of the various Governments here present, 
including myself, I may say that there is a universal feeling 
that the world can not rest satisfied with merely official guid- 
ance. There reached us through many channels the feeling that 
if the deliberative body of the league was merely to be a body of 
officials representing the various Governments, the peoples of the 
world would not be sure that some of the mistakes which pre- 
occupied officials had admittedly made might not be repeated. 
It -was impossible to conceive a method or an assembly so large 
and various as to l^e really representative of the great body of the 



55 

peoples of the world, because, as I roughly reckon it, we represent 
as we sit around this table more than twelve hundred million 
people. You can not have a representative assembly of twelve 
hundred million people, but if you leave it to each Government to 
have, if it pleases, one or two or three representatives, though only a 
single vote, it may vary its representation from time to time, not only 
but it may originate the choice of its several representatives, if it 
should have several, in different ways. Therefore, we thought that 
this was a proper and a very prudent concession to the practically 
universal opinion of plain men everywhere that they wanted the door 
left open to a variety of representation instead of being confined to a 
single official body with which they might or might not find them- 
selves in sympathy. 

And you will notice that this body has unlimited rights of discus- 
sion — I mean of discussion of anything that falls within the field of 
international relationship— and that it is specially agreed that war 
or international misunderstandings or anything that may lead to 
friction and trouble is everybody's business, because it may affect 
the peace of the world. And in order to safeguard the popular power 
so far as we could of this representative body it is provided, you will 
notice, that when a subject is submitted, not to arbitration, but to 
discussion by the executive council, it can upon the initiative of 
either one of the parties to the dispute be drawn out of the executive 
council onto the larger forum of the general bod}' of delegates, 
because throughout this instrument we are depending primarily and 
chiefly upon one great force, and that is the moral force of the public 
opinion of the world — the cleansing and clarifying and compelling 
influences of publicity — so that intrigues can no longer have their 
coverts, so that designs that are sinister can at any time be drawn 
into the open, so that those things that are destroyed by the light 
may be properly destroyed by the overwhelming light of the uni- 
versal expression of the condemnation of the world. 

Armed force is in the background in this program, but it is in the 
background, and if the moral force of the world will not suffice, the 
physical force of the world shall. But that is the last resort, because 
this is intended as a constitution of peace, not as a league of war. 

The simplicity of the document seems to me to be one of its chief 
virtues, because, speaking for myself, I was unable to foresee t.he 
variety of circumstances with which this league would have to deal. 
1 was unable, therefore, to plan all the machinery that might be neces- 
sary to meet differing and unexpected contingencies. Therefore, I 
should say of this document that it is not a straitjacket, but a vehicle 
of life. A living thhig is bom, and we must see to it that the clothes 
we put upon it do not liamper it— a vehicle of power, but a vehicle 
in which power may be varied at the discretion of those w)io exercise 



56 

it and in accordance with the changing circumstances of the time. 
And yet, while it is elastic, while it is general in its terms, it is definite 
in tlie one thing that we were called upon to make definite. It is » 
definite guarantee of peace. It is a definite guarantee by word 
against aggression. It is a defuiite guarantee against the things 
which have just come near bringing the whole structure of civilization 
into ruin. Its purposes do not for a moment lie vague. Its purposes 
are declared and its powers made unmistakable. 

It is not in contemplation that this should be merely a league to 
secure the peace of the world. It is a league which can be used for 
cooperation in any international matter. That is the significance 
of the provision introduced concerning labor. There are many 
ameliorations of labor conditions which can be affected by conference 
and discussion. I anticipate that there will be a very great usefulness 
in the bureau of labor which it is contemplated shall be set up by the 
league. While men and women and children who work have been 
in the background through long ages, and sometimes seemed to be 
forgotten, while Governments have had their watcliful and suspicious 
eyes upon the maneuvers of one another, while the thought of states- 
men has been about structural action and the large transactions of 
commerce and of finance, now, if I may believe the picture which I 
see, there cqmes into the foreground the great body of the laboring 
people of the world, the men and women and children upon whom the 
great burden of sustaining tlie world must from day to day fall, 
whether we wish it to do so or not ; people who go to bed tired and 
wake up without the stimulation of lively hope. These people wiU be 
drawn into the field of international consultation and help, and will 
be among the wards of the combined Governments of the world. 
There is, I take leave to say, a ver}^ great step in advance in the mere 
conception of that. 

Then, as you will notice, there is an imperative article concerning 
the publicity of all international agreements. Henceforth no member 
of the league can claim any agreement valid wliich it has not regis- 
tered with the secretary general, in whose office, of course, it will be 
subject to the examination of anybody representing a member of 
the league. And the duty is laid upon the secretary general to 
publish every document of that sort at the earliest possible time. 
I suppose most persons who have not been conversant with the 
business of foreign offices do not realize how many hundreds of 
these agreements are made in a smgle year, and how difficult it 
might.be to pubMsh the more unimportant of them immediately— 
how uninteresting it would be to most of the world to publish them 
immediately — but even they must be published just so soon as it 
is possible for the secretary general to pubhsh them. 



57 

Then there is a feature about this covenant which to my mind 
is one of the greatest and most satisfactory advances that have 
been made. We are done with annexations of helpless people, 
meant in some instances by some powers to be used merely for 
exploitation. We recognize in the most solemn manner that the 
helpless and undeveloped peoples of the world, being in that con- 
dition, put an obligation upon us to look after their interests pri- 
marily before we use them for our interest; and that in all cases 
of this sort hereafter it shall be the duty of the league to see that 
the nations who are assigned as the tutors and advisers and directors 
of those peoples shall look to their interest and to their development 
before they look to the interests and material desires of the man- 
datory nation itself. There has ]>een no greater advance than this, 
gentlemen. If you look back upon the history of the world you 
will see how helpless peoples have too often been a prey to powers 
that had no conscience in the matter. It has been one of the many 
distressing revelations of recent years that the great power which 
has just been happily defeated put intolerable burdens and injustices 
upon the helpless people of some of the colonies which it annexed 
to itself; that its interest was rather their extermination than their 
development; that the desire was to possess their land for European 
purposes, and not to enjoy their confidence in order that mankind 
might be lifted in those places to the next higher level. Now, the 
world, expressing its conscience in law, says there is an end of that. 
Our consciences shall be applied to this thing. States will be picked 
out which have already shown that they can exercise a conscience 
in this matter, and \mder their tutelage the helpless peoples of tlie 
world will come into a new light and into a new hope. 

So I think I can say of this document that it is at one and the 
same time a practical document and a humane document. There 
is a pulse of sympathy in it. There is a compulsion of conscience 
throughout it. It is practical, and yet it is intended to purify, to 
rectify, to elevate. And I want to say that, so far as my observation 
instructs me, this is in one sense a belated document. I believe that 
.the conscience of the world has long been prepared to express itself 
in some such way. We are not just now discovering our sympathy 
for these people and our interest in them. We are simply expressing 
it, for it has long been felt, and in the administration of the affairs of 
more than one of the great States represented here — so far as I know, 
of all the great States that are represented here — that humane 
impulse has already expressed itself in their dealings with their 
colonies whose peoples were yet at a low stage of civdization. We 
liave had many instances of colonies lifted into the sphere of com- 
plete self-government. This is not the discovery of a principle. It 
is the universal appUcation of a principle. It is the agreement of 



58 

the great nations which have tried to live by these standards in then- 
separate administrations to unite in seeing that their common force 
and their common thought and intelUgence are lent to this great 
and humane enterprise. I think it is an occasion, therefore, for the 
most profound satisfaction that this humane decision should have 
been reached in a matter for which the world has long been waiting 
and until a very recent period thought that it was stiU too early to 
hope. 

Many terrible things have come out of this war, gentlemen, but 
some very beautiful things have come out of it. Wrong has been 
defeated, but the rest of the world has been more conscious than it 
ever was before of the majesty of right. People that were suspicious 
of one another can now live as friends and comrades in a single 
family, and desire to do so. The miasma of distrust, of intrigue, 
is cleared away. Men are looking eye to eye and saying, ''We are 
brothers and have a common purpose. We did not realize it before, 
but now we do realize it, and this is our covenant of fraternity and 
of friendship." 

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